


The Fire's Fate

by FiraLove



Series: Fira's Saga [1]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Action/Adventure, Dark Fantasy, F/M, Multi, Mystery, Paranormal, Romance, Teen Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-06-14
Updated: 2018-10-24
Packaged: 2018-11-14 00:02:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 10
Words: 33,593
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11196246
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FiraLove/pseuds/FiraLove
Summary: Jackson Hellsing is sent to investigate a Hybrid of massive power, in a town called Witchland.Fira Loveatea is the Hybrid of massive power. She has no memories of the past fourteen years of her live. When she woke up all she knew was her name, basic age and who her best friend was - he's in the same boat as her. Now she must adjust to her powers, life and figure out school and where her mission twin brother is.When she takes notice to Jackson, things start to slowly come together, since they both know different sides of different stories that allow them to fit pieces of their scattered puzzles together.





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

  * For [SkullQueen_Loritta](https://archiveofourown.org/users/SkullQueen_Loritta/gifts).



Prologue

            “I have some information on a dangerous supernatural.”

            An older man with gray hair looked at the younger male before him. Taking in his physical appearance; he looks to be in his late twenties to early thirties, his brown hair falls to his jawline and pushed to the side. Shorter hair somehow manages to frame his narrow cobalt blue eyes. He holds himself in high regard, with his straight shoulder posture and holding his head high.

            The manila folder that he holds was so thin, it looks like nothing was in it.

            “You are a supernatural, yet you walk into the Hellsing home like it was nothing,” the older man stats taking the folder.

            “I have nothing to fear; I’m not as dangerous as her,” he gives a carefree smile before slumping into the seat behind him.

            He relaxes too suddenly for the olds man’s comfort. His dark eyes scan over the male before him, “what makes you say that the supernatural in this file is dangerous? It’s so thin.”

            Those blue eyes narrow as a hand pushed back half of his hair, “she’s from my family, these blue eyes are a sign of power and danger. She was born half Hell fox and quarter human and magical being.”

            The older man stiffens some at the mix of blood. He opens the file and in it is a basic file of the girl’s name and her abilities. There were no offenses against her – for now. She is only fourteen years old and managed to kill a giant rat demon on her own.

            “She burnt a giant rat demon down to the bone?” The old hunter asks looking at the supernatural being before him.

            He nods, “she has an unusual knack for controlling the flames of Hell, something that takes years to master,” he places his ankle on his knee. “Albert, you know someone who controls the flames with little to no training is dangerous.”

            Albert Hellsing’s eyes scan the page and photograph before him, “why is the information on this girl so short sighted if she’s fourteen? Where are her schooling records, medical records? It says here that she lives in Witchland, a safe haven for your people.”

            A dark smile forms on the young man’s lips as his hair fell back over his eyes, “her twin brother and her were kidnapped the day they were born. My nephew hasn’t been found but my niece showed up with some lowly possum demon, both claiming to have no memories of the past fourteen years.”

            The hunter holds his breath while he took in the appearance of the girl in the photo. Her long cooper-orange hair is held up in pigtails, though her bangs fell over one side of her face. The one cobalt colored eye was hallow of life, yet shone bright against her fair skin and bright hair. Her face and clothes were covered in mud and blood.

            “She’s too dead inside to have caused that kind of damage,” Albert remarks throwing the file down on his desk.

            “No, that is her look of guilt for taking a life, even though it attacked her. Well, that’s what the Witchland Police say happened, but I’m sure you don’t think a giant rat would attack two children that are lost.”

            Albert knows about those over-sized rodents. They are the size of small warehouses and it took a group of ten hunters to take just one down. A young girl managed to it all on her own – but how?

            “I’ll take your word on how dangerous this girl is. I’ll send a couple of scouts to watch and report how she does. If she doesn’t learn control or harms humans in any way – we will cut her down,” Albert promises, putting his hands together. “But, only if you answer me this: why are you turning in your own family?”

            The man puts a hand to his face and looks at the old man with a wide eye that held dark emotions, “she’s a threat to everything I have worked for, if you don’t kill her before she’s seventeen, I will.”

            Puzzlement fills Albert’s face at the specific age. “Why seventeen?”

            “That’s when her demonic powers reach full maturity.”


	2. Chapter 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I have no idea what to say here. I guess, enjoy the first chapter.

Part 1

Jackson Hellsing

Chapter 1

            Her bright hair stands out against the crowd of students. Sure there are other colors like purple, pink and green in the mix that are eye-catchingly bright; but her hair stands out the most because I have been teaching myself to catch the slightest glimpse of it. That’s what I’m supposed to do, because my mission is to watch and report everything she does.

            “Well, what have you come up with?” My younger sister, Isabell, questions coming up to me.

            “The same as ever, getting into fights with anyone who mouths off to her. Helps those in need and tries to keep her temper under control,” I reply.

            A tall, lanky guy with messy gray-white hair walks up to my target, he tries to tame his wavy hair with a winter beanie but doesn’t seem to succeed in this effort. His name is Poss J. Reed. He’s one of seventeen kids, eight older sisters and eight younger sisters – he’s the only male child. He’s a possum demon and her best friend.

            “You’ve gotten a soft spot for this target,” Isabell sighs giving a dirty look with her dark eyes.

            I shake my head. “I haven’t,” I state, watching as she heads to her next class.

            Turning to go to my own class, a couple of Werewolves catch my eye.

            _What are they up to?_

            “James has ordered us to capture Miss Hybrid today,” one explains to his fellow pack members.

            This town is known as Witchland, a safe haven for supernatural beings and humans that co-exist together in an uneasy peace. Mixed blood and hybrids are not uncommon here but Fira is the only one referred to as such as an insult.

This is due to the fact she’s three-fourths supernatural beings and one-fourth human. Most hybrids only inherit a certain power from each supernatural creature they have in their blood. Or a human and supernatural mix tends to be more powerful compared to a hybrid from two supernaturals. Why? Because the human heart and emotions strengthens the supernatural abilities they inherit.

Fira Loveatea has not only inherited powerful magic with her demonic abilities but also the human heart. Her mother comes a family mainly of magic related beings (witches, fairies, warlocks, etc.), but her grandfather is a Hell Fox – a powerful demon.

Hell Foxes are known for being close with Devils, because of their control over Hell’s flames. Your soul is damned to Hell if you get the smallest of burns from those flames. Nothing but the fox, sanctified dirt from hallowed ground, or holy water can put out the flames.

“He says we have to find her during lunch,” the shape-shifter continues.

_Are they looking to get fried?_

Now that’s just a small taste of what I know of her abilities. I have no idea what type of magic she has, because she hardly uses it. I only know it’s there because everyone watched her use it to switch out her clothes after some Elves poured dirty swamp water on her once. That day turned into a really bad one for those fools.

            So, due to how powerful this one girl is, anyone looking to strengthen their bloodlines or even their breed are after her. They want to make her their mate and have her bear their children. So the werewolves ganging up on her to corner her – backfires on them. Vampires and other more stunning supernaturals try to woo her with charms. Warlocks try love potions and humans try their best.

            I walk into my Local History class, just before the bell rings.

            _I guess, I’ll have to watch how that turns out. Maybe do something to prevent any humans from getting hurt._

~~~~~~~~~~

            Lunch was after Local History. Everyone was rushing to get to the cafeteria, while I went to the library. Fira is a being of habit, she loves reading books and skips lunch every day to spend the hour in a room full of the old and new books. Although, since I figured out that she has home economics class after lunch, she must eat during that period when they cook or bake something.

            The library is nearly dead when I walk in. A few students linger at the computer stations doing either some homework or computer games. The old librarian sits at her desk with her lunch in front of her as she reads off her kindle. The book club is holding a meeting in the far off corner of the large room, I can barely hear their soft voices.

            Pretending to browse through the non-fiction section isn’t too hard, since some of the books actually hold my interest. This school has far more books about the supernatural than any Hellsing family library – not even the main house in England has these books. I want to memorize all of them but I have a mission.

            I glance at Fira, her long hair falling to her waist while she fights to reach for a book from the top shelf. I can see her struggle of being five feet tall, but I can’t understand it because I am average height to reach just about anything. She has to stand on the bottom shelf while holding onto another shelf to reach up.

            “Here, let me help,” I say softly, coming up behind her.

            I put my hand on the small of her back, feeling the heat her body gives off as soon as I am centimeters from her. I feel her whole body tense, the air catching in her throat because I managed to catch her off guard.

I grab the book that her hand sat in front of; like this is something normal. Acting harmless prevents any supernatural from lashing out at you. I was simply helping her, though my body acted and my mouth spoke before my mind registered giving these orders.

Her bright, cobalt eyes tell me that she can sense there is something off about me, that I am not a completely normal human.

“You can step down now,” I state, moving back to allow her off the shelf.

One careful foot after another before she turns toward me slightly. She’s studying me, trying to figure out if I am friend or foe. Her instincts told her to fear me, while her eyes and common sense told her there was nothing to fear.

“Is everything alright?” I tilt my head to the side.

“Yes, just fine,” she replies with a soft voice.

I try to hide the confusion that crosses my face. She’s an expressive person, her voice always tells people the most about her mood, more than her actual expressions. Yet, she stands here guarded and shy for some reason.

I hold out the book as a sign of good faith, in hopes of bringing down that wall.

The teen girl before me snags the book without touching me, like I’m the one who will set her on fire if we touched – not the other way around.

“Why are you so scared of me?” I really wanted this answer for some reason. Probably because I have more reason to fear her than she really does to fear me. Sure I’ve been trained to hunt dangerous supernaturals all my life, take down a werewolf or vampire with the right tools; but she was a Hell fox.

_You could easily light my clothes on fire and leave my soul damned to Hell for all of eternity._

Her eyes dart around the library some, refusing to make eye contact. “It’s not you, there’s a lot wrong with me.”

That was something of a false statement. She is out cast by the student body and most of the town simply based on what she is. They haven’t seen who she really is; I have because I’ve watched her for two years. Okay, she has extreme trust issues, temper issues, and is socially awkward. But those are the only issues I know about.

“I don’t think there’s anything wrong with you,” I reply rubbing my neck some, trying to seem like a normal, awkward teenager.

            That statement gets a dark look from her, “Yes there is a lot wrong with me. I have no memory of my past, have a territorial problem that leads me to kill every feral demon that crosses the city line,-” She started her list.

_You killing those feral demons keeps the humans and weaker supernaturals safe, though._

“I get into fights with anyone who tries to out rank me somehow: Alphas, Vampire coven leaders - even teachers! Basically anyone who thinks they can control me, I have to fight with them for no reason….” She bites her bottom lip to prevent anything else from slipping out.

I know about her fighting but I find that more heroic than problematic. It takes a lot to fight demons that are ten times your size and look like they have well over two-hundred times your weight in muscle.

“Those are flaws, but you’re pretty heroic to me,” I remark looking up at the shelf her book came from. “Greek Mythology?”

She takes the book in both hands and looks at the cover. “Three old women sharing an eye ball are the only ones who determine everyone’s fates? Where do they find time to create certain events, along with other things? Sure, free will is a large factor in everything, but still. How do they knew which is the right and wrong times for someone to die? Do they look at every possible outcome?” She shakes her head suddenly. “It’s stupid….”

“Where is Fira?!” a voice boomed into the Library. “Where is that Hybrid?!”

“Oh no, not this,” Fira lets out a groan while pressing up against the shelf.

I glance at the door to see about five werewolves filing in. Two stay by the door, while the other three go to search the very room we are standing in. This cannot end well.

“What’s going on?” I ask, pretending not to know.

“James is after me again. He tries this on a weekly basis,” she whispers while rolling her eyes. “I want nothing to do with mating, marriage, children or anything dealing with love. I’ve sworn it off. My family and keeping this town safe are all I need.”

The hair on the back of my neck stands on end, a predator is getting close.

I grab Fira and quickly move her down the aisle. We barely round the corner when the Were comes to look down where we were. I keep her behind me, in order to hide her scent.

I can’t see what she does from behind, but I tense when she grabs a handful of my shirt and pulls me back some, her lips a breath away from my ear, “you could have warned me that you’re a hunter!” She hissed.

I stiffen at her words. I had no idea that she knew how to look for the traits of a hunter.

Anyone who is from the Hellsing family has odd traits that make them the perfect hunter. No scent which can weaken another scent, enhanced strength and agility, sharpened senses that match those of the supernatural and the list has a few more things to it through training.

“You weren’t supposed to figure that out,” I reply turning to face her, causing her to let go of my shirt.

“She’s in here! Double check every shelf if you have to!” A Beta ordered.

Fira glares then clicks her tongue, “we don’t have time to discuss this. You’re gonna have to help me today.” She looks around the shelves before grabbing hold of my hands and putting them together, “give me a boost.”

I interlace my fingers, allowing her to step on my hands and use my shoulder to give her the boost she needs. She climbs onto the top of the shelf and somehow transforms into her demonic form without me seeing it.

The tip of her tail brushes my nose before vanishing from my line of view.

_What is she up to?_

A dark laugh fills the Library. I freeze trying to think of who would laugh like this during this moment. It is a hard, cold, and mocking laugh.

“Hey Dogs!” Fira’s voice took on a bitter tone, “you really must have bad noses, because you walked right by me!”

“Are you crazy?!” I snap at her.

A quick glance tells me how confident she is about what she’s about to do. My hair stands on end again as I sense that it’s something crazy. It also doesn’t help that there are now three Weres coming down the aisle.

I’m trying to think of what to do, but Fira is way ahead of me. Before the enemy closes in she reaches down and hurls me up on top of the shelf she stands on. Her blue eyes now gold with cat like pupils and fox ears on top of her head.

“I’m not going to save your ass anymore!” she growls while her tail sways in a dangerous way.

I nod while trying to keep my mind straight. I hadn’t realized that she was wearing a spaghetti strapped tank top.

_That’s a lot of boob for a small girl._

“Get them!” a wolf howls as they try to climb the shelf.

Before they even get one shelf off the ground, Fira starts to shake them like they aren’t shelves but rather rocking chairs. They fall on their rears and curse at her before getting up to try again. Before they try to climb again she starts running down the row and jumps the gap between aisles.

“Are you coming or not, because I really need to get going here?”

I climb to my feet and follow suit. There is no way I’m going to fall behind, though I fear I may not be able to mentally keep up with this girl. She is somehow wired to survive better than most in this kind of situation.

~~~~~~~~~~

            We manage to get out of the Library, but the whole school is swarmed by James’s pack. No matter where we go there is a Were or two to block the exit. They’re herding us to the top floor, making escape impossible.

            “We have to get out of here!” I tell her as she trips a Werewolf that tries to charge her.

            A look of disbelief appears on her face, “No, I had no idea.”

            _Is she seriously mocking me right now?_

            “They’ve got us on the second floor right now – we can probably jump from a window. A tree! We can get into a tree and climb-”

            “They haven’t replaced the trees on this side of the school for a year now. That was my fault, although I burnt them down to scare a demon away from the school,” she reminded me.

            I recall that day, every woodland related supernatural was angry with her. They did everything they could think of to get back at her but Fira was numb to their attacks. She ignored them for weeks until they got tired of it all.

            “Mayor De Vill hasn’t replaced them?” I ask pulling her into a classroom.

            We narrowly escape getting tackled by a group of Weres. I block the door quickly before they have a chance to recover.

            _Damn this girl. She’s avoiding fighting and making me look like a horrible hunter! Why is she doing this?_

            “I told her son not to let her. I was going to do something but then my magic stopped working like I want it to,” she explained, stacking a couple of desks together. “We gotta use the ceiling from here.”

            “That will never work!” I respond, as I watch her disappear into the tiled ceiling.

            There is a loud bang at the door. That actually wasn’t going to hold like I had thought it would.

Now she’s really starting to raise some questions. How does she know all of this? How does she know the next move they’ll make?

            “Ask your questions later! Devin gave me the blue prints of the school so I could get out if I was ever trapped.”

            I follow the crazy girl into the ceiling.

            This is the moment when I realize that she’s wearing camouflage skinny jeans.

            _She’s got so many curves for a fighter…_

            We only crawl until we come to the outer wall of the school, but it is hard to see anything and her tail keeps whacking me in the face. “Stop hitting me with that thing!” I hiss at her.

            I can barely see her expression but I feel the icy daggers of her glare. “Stop staring at my ass!”

            _New development, she swears._

            “I wasn’t!” I try to play it off but apparently she isn’t feeling charitable.

            She makes a clicking sound with her tongue again, while she starts to feel up the wall. “There’s a panel here… in case someone has to do some work on the wiring and pipes without getting in the way of classes.”

            I put my hand on the wall and start to help her look for it. It won’t take long for the Weres to figure out where we are. Though I’m surprised they haven’t tried to come up here. Then again, they like a fight, and you can’t fight in a cramped space.

            “So how did you know I’m a Hunter?” I ask.

            “My grandfather made sure I knew how to pick out a Hunter if I was close to one. I’m half Hell Fox, any Hunter is going to try and kill me if they can. I’m weak right now,” she explains.

            “My family only goes after dangerous supernaturals,” I tell her.

            A small sigh, “I’m considered dangerous by these people… I’m not surprised someone went to a Hunter family to get me tracked and judged,” she admits.

            Brushing my hand along the rough wall, I stay silent. There is no way to explain to her that I’ve been here two years watching her. I watched her go from some quiet, glowering girl to the loud mouthed and glaring young woman she is now. I’ve seen her growth and few down falls.

            Suddenly, our hands meet on a smooth surface.

            Her hand is hot against mine and sends sparks up my arms, yet neither of us pull away. I can feel her eyes on my hand, but nothing in her breathing changes.

            “We found it,” she whispers before using her claws to pull the panel off the wall.

            The warm, bright sunlight shines in, blinding me.

            “Come on.”

            My eyes adjust to the light and I see that Fira hasn’t wasted time, she is half way out of the building.

            I wait until she’s almost gone from my sight before popping my head out.

            There is no true way down, only a ledge that is only a half foot wide below the opening.

            “Stop being a sissy,” Fira snaps pulling me out of my own head.

            I swiftly climb down and press against the wall.

            “There’s a tree a few yards this way.”

            Looking to find her words true, we start to go for it.

            It doesn’t take long to get down to the ground from there but it sure doesn’t feel like we’re in the clear. Fira’s ears keep twitching to every sound she picks up.

            “Where should we go?” she questions herself.

            “A ground of peace would probably be best,” I suggest.

            A light bulb goes on in her head. “The Lake of Truth.”

            Without another word she takes off towards this special lake, taking my hand in hers to drag me along.

~~~~~~~~~~

            It turns out that Fira isn’t meant for marathon running. She can fight Demons, Werewolves and Vampires, but she cannot run a whole half mile without taking a break for air. Though it seems the more breaks we take the sooner we have to stop again.

            “Come on, I thought you were a powerful demon!” I tease a few yards from her.

            She glares at me half bent over as she holds onto her side. “I am,” she gasps.

            “You don’t really train, do you?” I ask with a watchful eye.

            Any good fighter knows that you must have some type of training to stay in shape, yet it seems Fira never got that message. What does she do with all her free time when she’s not saving the town or going to school?

            She shakes her head while her body trembles and releases the demonic form. She lets out a few choice curses as she falls to her knees, “I can’t keep going.”

            I go to over to her and bend down to her level, “you have to, or else you’re going to be marked as James’s mate for life,” I say.

            She takes in my words before getting up again, “I don’t want that.”

            Leaving me behind is not an issue for her, I take note of that for future reference. She’s willing to leave someone behind if it means she can escape.

Part 1

Jackson Hellsing

Chapter 1

            Her bright hair stands out against the crowd of students. Sure there are other colors like purple, pink and green in the mix that are eye-catchingly bright; but her hair stands out the most because I have been teaching myself to catch the slightest glimpse of it. That’s what I’m supposed to do, because my mission is to watch and report everything she does.

            “Well, what have you come up with?” My younger sister, Isabell, questions coming up to me.

            “The same as ever, getting into fights with anyone who mouths off to her. Helps those in need and tries to keep her temper under control,” I reply.

            A tall, lanky guy with messy gray-white hair walks up to my target, he tries to tame his wavy hair with a winter beanie but doesn’t seem to succeed in this effort. His name is Poss J. Reed. He’s one of seventeen kids, eight older sisters and eight younger sisters – he’s the only male child. He’s a possum demon and her best friend.

            “You’ve gotten a soft spot for this target,” Isabell sighs giving a dirty look with her dark eyes.

            I shake my head. “I haven’t,” I state, watching as she heads to her next class.

            Turning to go to my own class, a couple of Werewolves catch my eye.

            _What are they up to?_

            “James has ordered us to capture Miss Hybrid today,” one explains to his fellow pack members.

            This town is known as Witchland, a safe haven for supernatural beings and humans that co-exist together in an uneasy peace. Mixed blood and hybrids are not uncommon here but Fira is the only one referred to as such as an insult.

This is due to the fact she’s three-fourths supernatural beings and one-fourth human. Most hybrids only inherit a certain power from each supernatural creature they have in their blood. Or a human and supernatural mix tends to be more powerful compared to a hybrid from two supernaturals. Why? Because the human heart and emotions strengthens the supernatural abilities they inherit.

Fira Loveatea has not only inherited powerful magic with her demonic abilities but also the human heart. Her mother comes a family mainly of magic related beings (witches, fairies, warlocks, etc.), but her grandfather is a Hell Fox – a powerful demon.

Hell Foxes are known for being close with Devils, because of their control over Hell’s flames. Your soul is damned to Hell if you get the smallest of burns from those flames. Nothing but the fox, sanctified dirt from hallowed ground, or holy water can put out the flames.

“He says we have to find her during lunch,” the shape-shifter continues.

_Are they looking to get fried?_

Now that’s just a small taste of what I know of her abilities. I have no idea what type of magic she has, because she hardly uses it. I only know it’s there because everyone watched her use it to switch out her clothes after some Elves poured dirty swamp water on her once. That day turned into a really bad one for those fools.

            So, due to how powerful this one girl is, anyone looking to strengthen their bloodlines or even their breed are after her. They want to make her their mate and have her bear their children. So the werewolves ganging up on her to corner her – backfires on them. Vampires and other more stunning supernaturals try to woo her with charms. Warlocks try love potions and humans try their best.

            I walk into my Local History class, just before the bell rings.

            _I guess, I’ll have to watch how that turns out. Maybe do something to prevent any humans from getting hurt._

~~~~~~~~~~

            Lunch was after Local History. Everyone was rushing to get to the cafeteria, while I went to the library. Fira is a being of habit, she loves reading books and skips lunch every day to spend the hour in a room full of the old and new books. Although, since I figured out that she has home economics class after lunch, she must eat during that period when they cook or bake something.

            The library is nearly dead when I walk in. A few students linger at the computer stations doing either some homework or computer games. The old librarian sits at her desk with her lunch in front of her as she reads off her kindle. The book club is holding a meeting in the far off corner of the large room, I can barely hear their soft voices.

            Pretending to browse through the non-fiction section isn’t too hard, since some of the books actually hold my interest. This school has far more books about the supernatural than any Hellsing family library – not even the main house in England has these books. I want to memorize all of them but I have a mission.

            I glance at Fira, her long hair falling to her waist while she fights to reach for a book from the top shelf. I can see her struggle of being five feet tall, but I can’t understand it because I am average height to reach just about anything. She has to stand on the bottom shelf while holding onto another shelf to reach up.

            “Here, let me help,” I say softly, coming up behind her.

            I put my hand on the small of her back, feeling the heat her body gives off as soon as I am centimeters from her. I feel her whole body tense, the air catching in her throat because I managed to catch her off guard.

I grab the book that her hand sat in front of; like this is something normal. Acting harmless prevents any supernatural from lashing out at you. I was simply helping her, though my body acted and my mouth spoke before my mind registered giving these orders.

Her bright, cobalt eyes tell me that she can sense there is something off about me, that I am not a completely normal human.

“You can step down now,” I state, moving back to allow her off the shelf.

One careful foot after another before she turns toward me slightly. She’s studying me, trying to figure out if I am friend or foe. Her instincts told her to fear me, while her eyes and common sense told her there was nothing to fear.

“Is everything alright?” I tilt my head to the side.

“Yes, just fine,” she replies with a soft voice.

I try to hide the confusion that crosses my face. She’s an expressive person, her voice always tells people the most about her mood, more than her actual expressions. Yet, she stands here guarded and shy for some reason.

I hold out the book as a sign of good faith, in hopes of bringing down that wall.

The teen girl before me snags the book without touching me, like I’m the one who will set her on fire if we touched – not the other way around.

“Why are you so scared of me?” I really wanted this answer for some reason. Probably because I have more reason to fear her than she really does to fear me. Sure I’ve been trained to hunt dangerous supernaturals all my life, take down a werewolf or vampire with the right tools; but she was a Hell fox.

_You could easily light my clothes on fire and leave my soul damned to Hell for all of eternity._

Her eyes dart around the library some, refusing to make eye contact. “It’s not you, there’s a lot wrong with me.”

That was something of a false statement. She is out cast by the student body and most of the town simply based on what she is. They haven’t seen who she really is; I have because I’ve watched her for two years. Okay, she has extreme trust issues, temper issues, and is socially awkward. But those are the only issues I know about.

“I don’t think there’s anything wrong with you,” I reply rubbing my neck some, trying to seem like a normal, awkward teenager.

            That statement gets a dark look from her, “Yes there is a lot wrong with me. I have no memory of my past, have a territorial problem that leads me to kill every feral demon that crosses the city line,-” She started her list.

_You killing those feral demons keeps the humans and weaker supernaturals safe, though._

“I get into fights with anyone who tries to out rank me somehow: Alphas, Vampire coven leaders - even teachers! Basically anyone who thinks they can control me, I have to fight with them for no reason….” She bites her bottom lip to prevent anything else from slipping out.

I know about her fighting but I find that more heroic than problematic. It takes a lot to fight demons that are ten times your size and look like they have well over two-hundred times your weight in muscle.

“Those are flaws, but you’re pretty heroic to me,” I remark looking up at the shelf her book came from. “Greek Mythology?”

She takes the book in both hands and looks at the cover. “Three old women sharing an eye ball are the only ones who determine everyone’s fates? Where do they find time to create certain events, along with other things? Sure, free will is a large factor in everything, but still. How do they knew which is the right and wrong times for someone to die? Do they look at every possible outcome?” She shakes her head suddenly. “It’s stupid….”

“Where is Fira?!” a voice boomed into the Library. “Where is that Hybrid?!”

“Oh no, not this,” Fira lets out a groan while pressing up against the shelf.

I glance at the door to see about five werewolves filing in. Two stay by the door, while the other three go to search the very room we are standing in. This cannot end well.

“What’s going on?” I ask, pretending not to know.

“James is after me again. He tries this on a weekly basis,” she whispers while rolling her eyes. “I want nothing to do with mating, marriage, children or anything dealing with love. I’ve sworn it off. My family and keeping this town safe are all I need.”

The hair on the back of my neck stands on end, a predator is getting close.

I grab Fira and quickly move her down the aisle. We barely round the corner when the Were comes to look down where we were. I keep her behind me, in order to hide her scent.

I can’t see what she does from behind, but I tense when she grabs a handful of my shirt and pulls me back some, her lips a breath away from my ear, “you could have warned me that you’re a hunter!” She hissed.

I stiffen at her words. I had no idea that she knew how to look for the traits of a hunter.

Anyone who is from the Hellsing family has odd traits that make them the perfect hunter. No scent which can weaken another scent, enhanced strength and agility, sharpened senses that match those of the supernatural and the list has a few more things to it through training.

“You weren’t supposed to figure that out,” I reply turning to face her, causing her to let go of my shirt.

“She’s in here! Double check every shelf if you have to!” A Beta ordered.

Fira glares then clicks her tongue, “we don’t have time to discuss this. You’re gonna have to help me today.” She looks around the shelves before grabbing hold of my hands and putting them together, “give me a boost.”

I interlace my fingers, allowing her to step on my hands and use my shoulder to give her the boost she needs. She climbs onto the top of the shelf and somehow transforms into her demonic form without me seeing it.

The tip of her tail brushes my nose before vanishing from my line of view.

_What is she up to?_

A dark laugh fills the Library. I freeze trying to think of who would laugh like this during this moment. It is a hard, cold, and mocking laugh.

“Hey Dogs!” Fira’s voice took on a bitter tone, “you really must have bad noses, because you walked right by me!”

“Are you crazy?!” I snap at her.

A quick glance tells me how confident she is about what she’s about to do. My hair stands on end again as I sense that it’s something crazy. It also doesn’t help that there are now three Weres coming down the aisle.

I’m trying to think of what to do, but Fira is way ahead of me. Before the enemy closes in she reaches down and hurls me up on top of the shelf she stands on. Her blue eyes now gold with cat like pupils and fox ears on top of her head.

“I’m not going to save your ass anymore!” she growls while her tail sways in a dangerous way.

I nod while trying to keep my mind straight. I hadn’t realized that she was wearing a spaghetti strapped tank top.

_That’s a lot of boob for a small girl._

“Get them!” a wolf howls as they try to climb the shelf.

Before they even get one shelf off the ground, Fira starts to shake them like they aren’t shelves but rather rocking chairs. They fall on their rears and curse at her before getting up to try again. Before they try to climb again she starts running down the row and jumps the gap between aisles.

“Are you coming or not, because I really need to get going here?”

I climb to my feet and follow suit. There is no way I’m going to fall behind, though I fear I may not be able to mentally keep up with this girl. She is somehow wired to survive better than most in this kind of situation.

~~~~~~~~~~

            We manage to get out of the Library, but the whole school is swarmed by James’s pack. No matter where we go there is a Were or two to block the exit. They’re herding us to the top floor, making escape impossible.

            “We have to get out of here!” I tell her as she trips a Werewolf that tries to charge her.

            A look of disbelief appears on her face, “No, I had no idea.”

            _Is she seriously mocking me right now?_

            “They’ve got us on the second floor right now – we can probably jump from a window. A tree! We can get into a tree and climb-”

            “They haven’t replaced the trees on this side of the school for a year now. That was my fault, although I burnt them down to scare a demon away from the school,” she reminded me.

            I recall that day, every woodland related supernatural was angry with her. They did everything they could think of to get back at her but Fira was numb to their attacks. She ignored them for weeks until they got tired of it all.

            “Mayor De Vill hasn’t replaced them?” I ask pulling her into a classroom.

            We narrowly escape getting tackled by a group of Weres. I block the door quickly before they have a chance to recover.

            _Damn this girl. She’s avoiding fighting and making me look like a horrible hunter! Why is she doing this?_

            “I told her son not to let her. I was going to do something but then my magic stopped working like I want it to,” she explained, stacking a couple of desks together. “We gotta use the ceiling from here.”

            “That will never work!” I respond, as I watch her disappear into the tiled ceiling.

            There is a loud bang at the door. That actually wasn’t going to hold like I had thought it would.

Now she’s really starting to raise some questions. How does she know all of this? How does she know the next move they’ll make?

            “Ask your questions later! Devin gave me the blue prints of the school so I could get out if I was ever trapped.”

            I follow the crazy girl into the ceiling.

            This is the moment when I realize that she’s wearing camouflage skinny jeans.

            _She’s got so many curves for a fighter…_

            We only crawl until we come to the outer wall of the school, but it is hard to see anything and her tail keeps whacking me in the face. “Stop hitting me with that thing!” I hiss at her.

            I can barely see her expression but I feel the icy daggers of her glare. “Stop staring at my ass!”

            _New development, she swears._

            “I wasn’t!” I try to play it off but apparently she isn’t feeling charitable.

            She makes a clicking sound with her tongue again, while she starts to feel up the wall. “There’s a panel here… in case someone has to do some work on the wiring and pipes without getting in the way of classes.”

            I put my hand on the wall and start to help her look for it. It won’t take long for the Weres to figure out where we are. Though I’m surprised they haven’t tried to come up here. Then again, they like a fight, and you can’t fight in a cramped space.

            “So how did you know I’m a Hunter?” I ask.

            “My grandfather made sure I knew how to pick out a Hunter if I was close to one. I’m half Hell Fox, any Hunter is going to try and kill me if they can. I’m weak right now,” she explains.

            “My family only goes after dangerous supernaturals,” I tell her.

            A small sigh, “I’m considered dangerous by these people… I’m not surprised someone went to a Hunter family to get me tracked and judged,” she admits.

            Brushing my hand along the rough wall, I stay silent. There is no way to explain to her that I’ve been here two years watching her. I watched her go from some quiet, glowering girl to the loud mouthed and glaring young woman she is now. I’ve seen her growth and few down falls.

            Suddenly, our hands meet on a smooth surface.

            Her hand is hot against mine and sends sparks up my arms, yet neither of us pull away. I can feel her eyes on my hand, but nothing in her breathing changes.

            “We found it,” she whispers before using her claws to pull the panel off the wall.

            The warm, bright sunlight shines in, blinding me.

            “Come on.”

            My eyes adjust to the light and I see that Fira hasn’t wasted time, she is half way out of the building.

            I wait until she’s almost gone from my sight before popping my head out.

            There is no true way down, only a ledge that is only a half foot wide below the opening.

            “Stop being a sissy,” Fira snaps pulling me out of my own head.

            I swiftly climb down and press against the wall.

            “There’s a tree a few yards this way.”

            Looking to find her words true, we start to go for it.

            It doesn’t take long to get down to the ground from there but it sure doesn’t feel like we’re in the clear. Fira’s ears keep twitching to every sound she picks up.

            “Where should we go?” she questions herself.

            “A ground of peace would probably be best,” I suggest.

            A light bulb goes on in her head. “The Lake of Truth.”

            Without another word she takes off towards this special lake, taking my hand in hers to drag me along.

~~~~~~~~~~

            It turns out that Fira isn’t meant for marathon running. She can fight Demons, Werewolves and Vampires, but she cannot run a whole half mile without taking a break for air. Though it seems the more breaks we take the sooner we have to stop again.

            “Come on, I thought you were a powerful demon!” I tease a few yards from her.

            She glares at me half bent over as she holds onto her side. “I am,” she gasps.

            “You don’t really train, do you?” I ask with a watchful eye.

            Any good fighter knows that you must have some type of training to stay in shape, yet it seems Fira never got that message. What does she do with all her free time when she’s not saving the town or going to school?

            She shakes her head while her body trembles and releases the demonic form. She lets out a few choice curses as she falls to her knees, “I can’t keep going.”

            I go to over to her and bend down to her level, “you have to, or else you’re going to be marked as James’s mate for life,” I say.

            She takes in my words before getting up again, “I don’t want that.”

            Leaving me behind is not an issue for her, I take note of that for future reference. She’s willing to leave someone behind if it means she can escape.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I thought the Prologue and first chapter would be a good start to get people into this story. I will wait for five reviews before posting the next chapter.
> 
> As a actual book, I have this planned out to be 30 chapters, not including the prologue and epilogue. Those will be split between 15 chapters per Jackson and Fira. Jackson as you can tell, is telling the first 15 chapters of the story. Fira will take over at 16 - 30. Prologue and Epilogues will most likely be told in third person, or by some other character depending on what is going on.
> 
> Fira's Saga is planned to span about 5 to six books in total. Each one mocking the 30 chapters, with the Prologue and Epilogue. Two characters will tell the story. Of course, being that this is her story, Fira will always tell one half of it. Another character will tell the other.
> 
> I seriously hope you all enjoy reading this Series. I have poured so much of my heart and soul into over the past ten years or so. I have edited and changed the plot and characters so much, to make them better and stronger. I really try hard and hope one day to at least self-publish on Amazon.


	3. Chapter 2

  

Chapter 2

            Upon getting to the opening in the ground that lead to Lake of Truth, Fira gasps for joy while I approach the edge. Both her eyes and body told me how worn out she was. How will she fight if she is so exhausted?

I turn back to the opening. The lake was originally underground, still technically is underground, but the War of Fear caused the ground to collapse and gave the sky to the magical lake.

            I was ready to jump down into the lake when Fira’s hand grabs my shirt and pulls me from the edge.

            “You’re useless if your clothes are wet and weighed down. There’s a zip line with a basket, take off your clothes and put them in there,” she orders.

            I give her a confused look, only for my ears and face to heat up.

            Without much warning, Fira has tied her hair up in a messy bun, and stripped off her clothes like it is no problem that I am standing right there. She tosses her clothes and boots into the large basket, standing in her black bra and underwear.

            “Why are you doing that?!” I snap as I cover my eyes.

            She sighs, “I told you!” The rustling of grass tells me that she’s on the move, “wet clothes make fighting harder; you, as a Hunter, should know this.”

Something tugged at the hem of my shirt. I find her right in front of me, pulling at my clothes. More heat builds in my ears and cheeks. My whole body feels like it’s on fire. Seeing all that exposed skin sends my brain right down teenage boy lane.

Now, I can either strip myself down or let her force my clothes off.

As much as I like the second choice, I move away from her reach, “I can undress myself.”

She crosses her arms and turns her back to give me privacy, “you’re the biggest Hunter baby, I’ve encountered yet,” she mocks, putting her hands out to the side. “You can’t handle a little skin from a young woman.”

The hair on the back of my neck prickles at that moment. The Werewolves have gotten close enough to realize what we’re trying to do.

“Don’t let them get into the lake!” a male Were shouts from beyond my line of sight.

“Dammit!” Fira curses taking hold of my arm.

I don’t get time to reply or ask her what she is planning. We go flying over the edge and are falling towards the crisp, blue water.

~~~~~~~~~~

            It is so cold that the air in my lungs escapes before I have a chance to stop it.

            My limbs flail about but I don’t move anywhere. Panic starts to take over, until I remember to open my eyes. Once I can see, I am able to swim to the surface, and find Fira there treading water, waiting on me.

            Her hair has broken loose and flows around her like a coppery oil spill.

            Those blue eyes look over at me. Instead of that usual bold look in them, she has a vulnerable look that is mixed with submission. The look nearly kills me; I have never thought or imagined she could produce a look of fear.

            “I see horrible things when I sleep. I’m not sure what they are though… memories or scenes from a movie,” she admits before heading for the sandy beach.

            “My family sent my sister and me to watch you and kill you upon judgment,” I admit suddenly.

            She stops and looks at me with empty eyes, “get to the shore before we say anything else.”

            I can’t argue with her on that subject. Plus there is the fact we are being chased by a crazy pack of Weres.

            It doesn’t take long to get to shore, but getting our clothes on is a tedious job due to our wet skin. The cottons and denim stuck to every wet spot possible.

            “Summon some flames so we can use the heat to dry off” I throw at Fira.

            Confusion crosses her features but she nods and does as I say.

            Keeping the flames a safe distance away she works to dry where she can before the Weres start coming down to get us.

            I can see them hanging out along the top, but none make a move to jump down. My heart starts to race with anticipation. Never in my life have I seen Weres just stand back and watch, like they know it is best to wait for us to get dressed or something.

            The heat of the flames suddenly gets too hot, “Ouch! Too close!” I snap at Fira.

            She doesn’t reply, instead sitting there with a distant look in her eyes.

            _Now is a bad time for day dreaming!_

            “Hey, are you there?” I ask, snapping my fingers in front of her face.

            No reaction whatsoever, but she turns to look at something I can’t see. Soon her head is turning in the other direction then swiftly looking both ways. “My room is on fire,” she whispers.

            She looks at the flames in her hands and pure terror fills her features. “I’m on fire!” she yelps, trying to put the fire out on her clothes.

            Surprisingly, her clothes don’t catch fire, but she still panics because the flames on her hands won’t go out.

            She stands and looks around frantically, until she finds something and goes for it. She makes the motion of pouring something onto her hand but the look on her face tells me that the flames in her mind haven’t gone out.

            “Furor,” she says looking towards another thing I can’t see.

            I try to figure out where I have heard that name or if that name belonged to someone important but no one crosses my mind.

            “The flames won’t go out!” she cries to the imagined person, real tears falling from her cobalt eyes.

            Whoever she’s talking to in her mind seems to be telling her to relax and explaining what’s going on around her, because slowly clam and relief form on her face.

            The flames in her hands go out and she snaps out of it.

            “What?” She shakes her head.

            The sound of howls fills the air, but they aren’t coming from above us but instead on the same level.

            “The tunnel!” Fira calls out, looking at an opening in the wall not too far from her.

            Not too long after she says that, a small group of ten wolves appears and surrounds us.

            Dread fills my gut when I realize that I have no weapons for this fight. Plus, I’m not sure what type of Weres these guys are. If they can control their shifts, they might not be affected by silver. If they can’t control their shifts, it’s still fifty-fifty on the silver deal.

            “James, you know how this is going to go,” Fira states, her voice holding a matter of fact tone.

            A shirtless young man walks up to Fira, but stays out of arms reach. He’s taller than me, with sandy colored hair and sports the rugged look. He holds a cocky look in his eye as he stares at Fira.

            He likes the idea of her standing there without a shirt, but still with those tight fitting jeans of hers. The look in his eyes makes me sick to my stomach, yet for some reason I feel like I can do nothing.

            “Yes, this time I’ll mark you as mine,” he replies, only to receive an eye roll.

            “Yeah, like you can get your teeth close enough to draw blood,” she laughs putting her hands on her hips.

            I sit there, surprised that she’s so full of herself in this moment. Any group of Hunters would be ready to number two in their pants. We’re heavily outnumbered and the whole pack is here to see this happen and help if needed.

            “Are you sure about that?” James asks making a come hither motion.

            Fira doesn’t move, but someone behind her does. It’s too late for me to realize what is going on, but the female Were suddenly pours a bucket of water over Fira. It looks like plain water, but I have a feeling it’s holy water. Sure, when dumped on Fira it doesn’t do much except prevent her from using her flames. It’s when it enters her body that I have to worry. Because if she drinks any amount of it, her demonic powers cut out completely – leaving her merely human.

            Fira sniffs the water, but seems to find it harmless – until she tries to send flames towards the female and James.

            Nothing happens.

            A smirk forms on James’s face and he tackles the defenseless girl to the sandy ground.

            Why wasn’t I reacting to these actions? I am somehow spellbound to watch this monster harm this poor girl. All she’s ever done is give and give, then take all the abuse they throw at her and never once cry – that I’ve seen.

            My heart stops when I watch James force a bottle of clear fluid into her mouth, his free hand plugging her nose.

            “If you want to breathe, you’ll have to swallow the water,” he sneers with a knowing look.

            I jump up and charge at James, only to get clotheslined by a pair of Weres. “You’re not gonna stop this,” they grab hold of my shirt and toss me like I’m some small sack.

            I expected a whole lot of pain from hitting a stone wall, but this stone wall caved under my weight.

~~~~~~~~~~

            Everything happened in slow motion: the collapsing wall, the drop into a cavern, and rocks hitting my head. The rocks caused pain to spider its way across my skull and something warm drips down into my face.

_“Come this way, young one.”_

            Those rocks really hit me hard because I am now hearing a woman’s soft voice.

            “ _You wish to save her, don’t you?”_

            Sitting up, I let out a groan of pain while running my hands over my face to remove the dirt.

            Once I open my eyes, I can only see a dim light several yards from where I sit. I squint trying to focus my blurry vision on the light. It’s a purple light that much I can tell.

            _That’s no pixie._

I slowly force myself up to go towards it. The light is still calling for me and my body is moving of its own accord to approach it.

            As I follow the light, I come into a candlelit area. There is an altar like stand in the middle with several candles around the edge, acting like waxy guards to whatever is in the middle.

Yet, I sense no one nearby.

_“Take a look over here.”_

Suddenly a beautiful woman dressed in a long white, witch style dress appears out of the shadows. Everything about her is white or pale but she holds a look of peace and self-confidence in her eyes.

_“Do not fear young one, I am not here to harm you – simply to help.”_

I slowly walk up to her and the altar, “how do you plan on doing that?”

She looks down at the surface below us, all that sits there is a bracelet with a single charm, a stone with a paw carved into it. It is such a plain object, yet my body tenses upon beholding it. There is more to the jewelry than meets the eye.

_“I created this bracelet so those powerless can save the ones they love.”_ Her eyes look up at the dark ceiling above us and I can’t help but look up as well. _“You are a Hunter from the Hellsing family and you are meant to kill those who harm the innocent – yet the one you care for the most would never allow you to kill those wolves.”_

“I wouldn’t say-” I stop short when she holds up the bracelet.

_“Do not deny your feelings young one. The mask will grant you the ability you seek to protect her. Take it and make sure she leaves here less tortured than in the past.”_

On her command I take the bracelet and immediately a buzzing feeling crawls up my arm. A power starts to fill my body, setting every cell into high gear. But it is all cut short when I hear Fira’s scream.

No thinking necessary, I race back down the way I came from. Slipping the gift onto my wrist as I did, ensuring that I won’t lose it.

I never felt the change occur, nothing feels different until I get to the area where I landed. I thought I would have no way to climb up the wall. Sure it’s made of rock, but there are no fractures or grooves for gripping.

I slam my fist on the wall when another wail of pain comes from above. I was an idiot to believe that I could save her from my own family. How could I do that when I can’t even save her now? All because I can’t reach the hole that I fell from.

But when my fist makes contact with the wall, it isn’t skin on rock – it’s cloth on rock. Everything starts to sink in, the fact I can see so clearly in the dark, my clothes are completely different and that buzzing that came from the bracelet, now fills every part of my body, and heightens my sense of everything around me.

_New duds…_

I reach for my belt and find a small pack on my lower back. Inside, I find a simple handle with a button on the side. From what I have gathered so far, I have a theory that all of this is magic related. Just because this is a simple handle doesn’t mean it’s useless.

I aim up at the opening and press the button. A bright light flies out of the handle and implants itself into the rock below the opening. My heart leaps when I see that the odd light stays. I give a small tug and nearly cry out for joy when I realized it is going to hold.

“Now I see why witches like using magic so much,” I comment before starting my climb up.

~~~~~~~~~~

            Once I get up to the surface I find the worst thing to ever happen.

            James has managed to get Fira to drink the holy water.

            Now two Weres are holding down her arms while he stands over her in wolf form, burying his teeth deep into her pale skin. Blood runs down from the several punctures and a scream tears from her throat while her legs try and kick the beast above her.

            This time nothing stops me from charging over the sand and tackling the over-grown wolf into the water. James lets out a yelp of surprise from my assault and really dislikes how I twist his leg until it gives a loud pop.

            I let go of him and take the next two Weres that fly at me. They’re in human form so knocking their heads together a bit is all I need to put a stop to them.

            The more Weres I take down, the more who take their places. Wolf form or human form they tried attacking from all angles but failed each time.

            Normally I would have been too tired to even lift a finger after taking down a sixth wolf, but the magic of this bracelet is letting me push my limits without breaking a sweat.

            _Magic does come with a cost. I’ll pay for this when this is done._

            After what felt like a life time, I’m able to get to Fira.

            Her eyes are closed but the movement behind her lids tell me she is merely unconscious. I pull her close and feel how cold her skin has gotten. Normally she is so warm, not the normal human body temperature, but rather hotter due to her demonic powers. I only felt it a few times but it was like sitting next to a pleasant camp fire.

            “Fira,” I say softly rubbing her face with my gloved hand.

            She does not respond to anything, which worries me the most. When I look up, we’re surrounded by too many Weres for me to fight on my own. I’ve lost all motivation upon seeing her like this. Was there something else in the water or was the trauma from the bites too much for her to handle without her demonic ability there?

            They all close in on the two of us, when a dark blur suddenly knocks out several Weres in the back.

            We all freeze in shock. Even my well trained eye has a hard time catching this being that blurs past us all. Taking out several more Weres before coming up behind James, the being pins him from behind.

            “You must apologize for the pain you have caused,” a Vampire with a slight accent states.

            I take in the long silver hair that flows down his back, with long bangs framing his face. His brownish-red eyes narrow, full of calculation, while his claws dig into the James’ neck. He dresses in a white and silver suit like it’s a normal thing to do.

            Those eyes flicker to Fira and a dark look fills his eyes before he tightens his grip on James’ neck, “it looks like you caused too much pain for apologies.” With only a simple flick of his wrist the Vampire sent the Alpha flying into the rest of his pack, “my lady is full of that dreadful Alpha venom because of your attempt to mark her as an unwilling mate. I’ll see to it that you are punished.”

            James turned from wolf to man and got up in an unsteady fashion, refusing any help, “I didn’t attempt to mark her; I did mark her.” He wipes some blood from his mouth before spitting more out, “So, try again, Mr. Nanny.”

            _Nanny?_

Three Weres try to jump the Vampire from behind. The Vampire simply swings his arm to the side. The Weres drop to the sandy ground and howl in pain, yet I can see no injuries.

            Somehow they were delayed.

            Several deep cuts appear on the bodies of the Weres and their blood seeps into the white sand beneath them.

            I’ve seen powerful Vampires but never any this powerful. It took a whole ten seconds before any blood became visible. The record of something like this happening in my family records was possibly four or five seconds. I need to know who this guy is.

            “Now, you see what I can do to your followers,” the Vampire states, looking at James again. “I suggest you take lead and retreat before you start to lose lives.”

            James tries to stand tall and take the fight further but being a wolf, the lives of his pack mean more to him than his pride. With a shake of his head, they all start to leave without another word.

            The Vampire came over to me and knelt down, “You may drop that transformation now, young lad.” He gave a kind smile.

            “I don’t know how,” I reply.

            “Simply tell the magic to turn off,” he explains taking Fira from my arms. “I’ll take you two to the Loveatea estate for recovery.”

            I don’t understand what he is going on about but I nod and close my eyes. I try picturing a light switch and flipping it off. That does nothing. I try several things before finally just simply telling my own mind to turn off.

            The whole world vanished.


	4. Chapter 3

            I found myself in a room, everything is as white as snow. White lilies in a clear vase sit in the middle of the table where I sit; these are white along with the two chairs – one that I found myself in. The curtains that hang from the ceiling to floor windows are a lovely white and let enough sunlight in to make the room feel warm and bright.

            “You really pushed yourself.” A familiar voice chimes causing me to jump.

            I look around, my eyes land on the White Witch from the cavern below the lake. “It’s you.”

            She gives me a gentle smile before sitting across the table from me. “I created that bracelet for a Hellsing that is against the rest of their family’s ways. That is why the wall broke under you.” She explains folding her hands in front of her.

            I give her a look, “I’m not against my family and our ways.”

            “Yet, you find the world will be dark and gray without the Hybrid girl,” the witch counters.

            _How does she know that?_

            “This is my place, but it is within your mind. My spirit is tied to the magical jewelry you wear, I can help you and keep you on the path you want to follow,” she explains holding a steady gaze in her eyes. “But it will only start when you accept your feelings for her and create a goal.”

            First Izzy and now this witch are telling me that I have feelings for the person I’m supposed to kill. The thought causes me to sigh because I couldn’t see how I could have fallen for someone I’ve barely spoken to.

            “Tell me what makes her so special.” The witch asks with a knowing look in her pale eyes.

            I rub my neck as I think of what I have observed over the past two years. “She stands up for what she believes is right and the weak. She never backs down from any fight – even if it could kill her. She cares for those close to her and makes sure they are okay,” I list. “One time, her friend Poss started having some kind of panic attack and she left her class to be with him. Skipping several other classes to make sure he was okay, even though his sisters were there.

            “This town hates her abilities, yet she gives everything she has to protect them from the feral demons that attack every so often. She apologizes for everything even if she did nothing wrong. One teacher was complaining about how bad of a day he was having, she told him she was sorry – like she had caused all those issues to happen. Her heart is big, she’s a warm and caring person and the world needs someone like her around.”

            The witch gives a thoughtful look while her head tilts to the side. “So you could live your life without ever knowing this girl, or do you need to see the gift she is?”

            I am taken back by this question. My life was pretty bland and ran together until I moved to Witchland. It was after seeing how different and honest she is that every day was different. One day she would go to all of her classes without fail or being late. Another day she’ll skip everything but be on the school grounds. There are days she gets into fights and others where someone brought the fight to her. She brought color to my world when the only colors I saw were black, white and red.

            “I need her to be around…. She gives the world color that it lacked before.” I finally say.

            The witch shakes her head, “The world was colorful and bright before she was born and will be when her time ends. Your world is a different story; you lived in a world of black and white that was tainted with blood. Meeting her and watching her washed away the bland and gave you a new world.”

            She looks over her shoulder like someone is there talking to her. “It is time for you to wake up and really get to know this new world of yours.”

~~~~~~~~~~

            “Miss Fira, you really should be in bed.” A familiar accented voice states.

            The room is warm but nothing uncomfortable. The bed and blankets I’m in are very soft, probably the softest I’ve ever slept in. Yet, my eyelids refused to open.

            Someone gives the tongue farting sound in responds, “If I’m in my room Grandma will find me. This is the last place she’ll check.” Fira’s voice quips as the bed moves.

            She’s sitting on my bed. Does fear even exist in her range of emotions? I could easily off her with my bare hands if I caught her off guard.

            “Alistair does have a point, but if you’re not gonna listen at least put a pair of pants on.” Another male voice replies to Fira.

            Now my eyes open and I sit up. No one in the room looks surprised to see me move, but at the same time they don’t say much to me either.

            The Vampire from the lake is by the door holding clothes in his arms, while Fira is sitting on the edge of my bed with her feet in the lap of Poss – who sat in the chair next to my bed. Poss’s hands work at rubbing Fira’s foot.

            Fira gives a smile when she looks at me before turning back to her friend. “I shall not wear pants when I’m in my own house!”

            Poss just shakes his head before he looks at his handy work. “Why am I rubbing your feet?!”

            A shrug comes from Fira, “I don’t know, I simply put my feet in your lap and you started.” She counters; only from him to stop. “I didn’t say for you to stop!”

            This is a losing game for Poss as he huffs and went back to his job.

            “Is there anything we can get you?” The Vampire asks coming to my side. “Water? A change of clothes?”

            I shake my head, “how long was I out?” I ask noticing that Fira looks like the attack from James never happened, though one bandage on her upper left arm remains.

            “Three days.” Fira tosses at me while playing with a strand of her copper hair.

            My eyes nearly pop out of my head, “You’re not pulling my leg are you?!”

            All three shake their heads in unison.

            _Izzy is gonna kill me._

            “I texted your sister from your phone. You may want to get a new one though.” Fira stated in a plain fashion.

            I give her a quizzical look.

            “Miss Fira’s hybrid energy messes with smartphones. Hers is always on the fritz and normally never touches anyone else’s. From what she told me, her curse bypassed your lock screen when she went into your phone.” Alistair explains.

            I grabbed my phone and saw he is right. Somehow my pin code is deactivated allowing anyone access to any personal information that I stored in the device. I could probably just fix the setting but they made it sound like it is a permanent thing.

            “I only texted your sister - saw nothing else.” Fira states with a look that says she’d bite my head off if I dared accuse her of something.

            “I believe you, honestly. In the time I’ve been here, I’ve never heard you lie.” These words make a bright smile appear on her lips as she looks back at Poss for a moment.

            His beady eyes give a look. The smile turns from bright and pleased look to a more playful one.

            I watch the silent conversation happen between them for a few moments before looking at the vampire- Alistair is his name. He notices my looking and gives a gentle smile.

            “Okay, it’s decided.” Fira announces suddenly. “I am going to show you around the grounds of my lovely home!”

            Her bare feet make a slap sound when she jumps off my bed. Without hesitation, she grabs my hand and gives it a small tug. “It’ll be so much fun, I’ll even show you all three levels of the basement.”

            _Three levels of the basement? Who has three levels for a basement?! Just how rich is this family?_

            “I say we shouldn’t.” Poss counters, standing up and pulling Fira away from my bedside.

            The Hybrid gives him a dark look while she moves away from his reach with ease. “Nothing you say or do will stop me from treating him like a proper guest in my house.”

            “You don’t treat me like a proper guest!” Poss throws his arms in the air for dramatic effect.

            Fira narrowed those blue eyes of hers as she crosses her arms. “You are a part-time resident.”

            She put it so simply and yet it made so much sense even to someone who wasn’t part of the loop.

            “Miss Fira, this boy’s family is hunting you. If you give him this information it will be hard to keep you safe.” Alistair chimes with a worried look passing over his brownish-red eyes.

            Fira gives a charming smile, “he’s only here to judge the situation. We still have time to change how he views me,” her glance comes over to me, making a nervous chill run down my back. “that is, if he views me as a threat.”

            Poss and the Vampire’s eyes are now on me. Some cold sweat prickles along my skin causing goosebumps to form. They want to know how I view the person they care about. The wrong answer could lead to any form of hostility.

            I try to gulp down the knot forming in my throat. “I don’t see her as a threat – but my sister has been sending her own reports. They choose her judgement over mine for some reason.” I explain pulling at the shirt collar.

            Mixed looks pass over Poss and Alistair’s faces, while Fira’s holds a more thoughtful expression compared to theirs.

            After a moment, her face lights up like a firework and she grabs my hand again, “get out of bed! I gotta show you the house – the exercise will make you hungry.”

            Heat blooms across my cheeks as she tugs on my hand like a small child. My brain suddenly can’t think straight and my voice is sealed away to be used a different day.

            _What kind of magic is she working on me?_

~~~~~~~~~~

            “This is the backyard!” Fira exclaims using her arms to only cover a small portion of the yard.

            There was a pool with a complete pool-house, a tennis court that doubled as a basketball court, a very large open field area, and then the rest of their land was covered by forest. I have seen some fancy backyards but this one seems to take the cake.

            This whole mansion is huge.

            There was the three-level basement, that has a movie theater, bowling and holiday storage as the top level. A whole medical facility as the second level. The third level is half bar with a dance floor, half is designed to be a bomb shelter.

            The normal ground floor of the house was, the living room, a sitting room, the kitchen, dining room, laundry room, with a couple of offices and a meeting hall. The two floors above are all bedrooms, the main family stays on the second level while guests are on the third floor. Though there is a part that acts like a greenhouse with glass walls, that also open.

            “Who designed this house?” I ask running my eyes along the brick wall that ran along the perimeter of their land.

            “Grandma Hannah did, Mom and Dad made changes once they took over.” Fira replies simply.

            This wasn’t one of those fancy houses that make you feel out of place or uncomfortable. No, everywhere you went within its walls felt like home. It was safe and warm like all homes should feel.

            Fira suddenly points off towards a corner of the yard. “Over there we have a large shed that doubles as a teen hangout. In it, you’ll find, ATVS, dirt bikes, go-karts, and other outdoor fun things.”

            My jaw drops at the thought of it all those expensive things.

            “May I ask how you afford all of this stuff?” I question.

            I am trying to figure out what kind of income her family must have to have all this stuff. Plus, there’s the fact they probably have large property taxes because of how much land they have. Water and power bills must be sky high. The very thought makes my head spin.

            “Haven’t you heard?” Poss asks back, reminding me of his presence. “Fira’s family comes from royalty. A hidden, magical land called Lovemainea. It was the first land of magic on Earth.”

            Being of a Hellsing, I have heard every tale about how magic came to be and yet I have never heard this one. I have never even of Lovemainea at all.

            “How is that possible with all the technology in the world?” I’m flabbergasted by all the new information being thrown at me.

            “It’s true.” Fira states with a cunning grin. “Lovemainea formed in the very early stages of human-kinds birth. Fairies, witches and even some other immortal beings created it. The technology among the island is far more advanced than even the humans have managed.”

            I slowly bend down and plop my ass on the ground. This is all too mind-blowing to take in at once. A secret land of people living under the nose of the world. With far more advanced tech than what we have now?

            “I just need a minute.”


	5. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the last chapter for a while. I am working on the next chapter.

Chapter 4

            Not long after I sat down, Alistair rejoins us with a bright face.

            “Miss Fira, your uncle will be stopping by in an hour. I suggest you shower and get dressed.” Fira squeals with delight as she jumps up and down then clings to Poss.

            “Uncle Stanley!” She exclaims before turning to Poss. “Take care of Jackson for me.”

            I paused a moment, they just fought about how to be a proper host and she’s suddenly ditching me? Poss hasn’t shown a single sign that he even trusts me! How can she do this?

            Poss sighs crossing his arms. “Fine, I’ll take care of him.”

            She gave a huge smile, “come by my room in a half hour! I’ll need help with picking out an outfit!” Without another word, she took off back into the oversized mansion.

            “She hasn’t changed at all,” Alistair murmurs.

            I turn to look at him, “what did you say?”

            The Vampire’s eyes met mine, but I only receive a knowing smile.

            Poss just gives me a questioning look, “are you hearing things?”

            I shook my head in response.

            _Maybe, I was hearing things._

             “Fira, has a really bad fashion sense,” Poss explains suddenly, trying to make conversation.

            “Really? I haven’t noticed,” I reply turning my attention on him.

            He nods as a smug look forms on his narrow face. “If I let her dress herself every day, she’d only wear seat pants and hoodies. But I have managed to learn a few things from my sisters to find a style that Fira likes,” Though, he looks smug, his eyes hold a soft look. “She’s basically helpless with being a girl.”

            “We’re lucky she can brush her hair on her own,” Alistair tosses in with a small laugh.

            Izzy does her own make-up, hair and basically everything on her own. I thought every girl knew how to do all that junk – but here I sit, learning that Fira can barely use a brush properly. I guess her missing past could explain those missing skills.

~~~~~~~~~~

            Half an hour passes with some ease. Poss did not interrogate me in any way, and was an over-all laid-back guy. He cares deeply about Fira and her family, but he wasn’t going to fight me as only as I wasn’t going to fight him. Fira’s happiness means the most to him, and she’s the same with him.

            Of course, I was blown away by the sheer size of Fira’s room.

            Basically, think of a small apartment, that was the size of Fira’s bedroom.

            Her bed is much larger than a California king and is covered in lots of blankets and stuffed animals. I could see a lot of Tigger from Winnie the Pooh, Stitch from that one Disney movie, and a few other characters – but I have no idea what they are from.

            A large, flat screen, TV is hanging on the wall across from the bed, yet in between the bed and TV was a full wrap-around couch. Several cases surrounded both sides of the TV. All movies, TV series, and Japanese anime.

            The rest of her walls are covered in movie and anime posters. A few other shelves on the other walls, full of books. I couldn’t help but notice it is a mix of normal young adult fiction and graphic novels. One shelf holds nothing but medical books, really old ones at that too.

            _Does she want to become a doctor?_

            Two other doors are in the room. I could tell one was a bathroom and the other was a walk-in closet. Izzy would kill to have a bedroom like this. Her current closet is overstuffed with her clothes and complains that she still doesn’t have enough clothes.

            “Okay, I am now starting to believe that these people are from royalty,” I remark looking around.

            “Don’t worry, it took me a long time to accept that she wasn’t normal either,” Poss states before going into one of the doors.

            I’m starting to see why Fira doesn’t have an issue being nearly naked around guys. She’s around Poss so much, and he’s not bothered by any of her lady parts because of being her best friend and all his sisters. To be so close with someone must be nice, because they know you just as well as you know them. Izzy and I aren’t even like that.

            Moments later, he comes out with clothes on his arm before going into the other door.

            _Okay, he’s either gay. Or they’re friends with benefits._

            I feel weird just standing in the middle of the room, looking like a dumbass. I start to look at the array of DVDs that she has. I’m highly surprised by the range of movies. Disney to Fast and the Furious. Musicals to Horror. Goofy, sexed-up comedies to normal romantic comedies. This girl likes everything that actually has a great plot line to it.

            The door to the bathroom swings open, but Poss nor Fira comes out. Guessing that she’s dressed, I walk over to see what is going on in there.

            I am surprised to see what Fira is wearing. Nothing fancy or even showy and yet she made it seem like an amazing outfit despite how plain it was. A pair of dark jeans, with the wash out look to them, and a black, off-shoulder, long sleeved shirt. Plain, simple and perfect on her.

            Her damp hair has waves to it, since she was fresh from the shower. Poss standing behind her as he pulls half of her hair up into a messy bun.

            “There,” He gives her bangs a final brush.

            “Are you sure this is a good idea?” Fira questions as a nervous look passes over her cobalt blue eyes.

            Poss nods wrapping a stray hair around his finger, “it’s just right.”

            “Okay, is there something going on between you two?” I blurt without thought.

            Both look at me with a look that says I’ve grown a second head. Turning to look at the other before their faces puff and laughter busts out. My shoulders hung low as I realized how idiotic it was to ask that question. I would have known by now if there was something between them.

            “A lot of people think that-,” Poss starts as a secretive glance passes over his beady eyes.

            Fira tosses the brush at me, “but that isn’t the situation at all. We’re just really close friends. We lost our memories, but when we woke up we knew who the other was and that we were best friends.” I barely catch the brush in time.

            _I’m making myself look like a fool in front of her._

            “A memory spell?” I raise a brow trying to think of anything else that could cause that kind of memory loss but nothing comes to mind.

            “It’s what Stacey says,” Poss replies with a shrug.

            “But for it to last two years means that the person is very powerful,” Fira explains holding up two fingers. “From what I have learned in school, is that most memory spells barely last six months. So, either the person was really powerful or the person who casted the spell is renewing it.”

            Those are very probable theories but there wasn’t really any evidence to back any of it up. Plus, there’s the fact Fira did have that odd flashback back at Truth Lake. Both of their memories must be coming back.

            Before anything else can be said, a knock comes from the main bedroom door.

            Fira jumps up, as the hair on my neck raises. There is a powerful Supernatural on the other side of that door; yet, Fira doesn’t seem bothered by their presence, instead she’s very cheerful about it.

            She flings the door open and a man with shoulder length brown hair is standing there in a pink button up and red vest. At first, his back is turned towards the door, but the moment he turns to face us everything stops for me.

            This man was at the Hellsing manor two years ago. He had a tip off about a super dangerous Supernatural. His hair is styled slightly different than those years ago, but everyone changes over the course of time. This man no longer pushed half of his hair out of his face.

            I got this mission to judge Fira after he left.

            _He couldn’t have possibly turned his own niece in._

“Uncle Stanley!” Fira exclaims jumping into his arms.

            His eyes grow wide, they were the same shade as hers. Compared to the last time I saw him; his eyes are warmer and kinder. Maybe, he has a twin like Fira does?

            “I heard you got into some trouble with Werewolves again,” he says right away.

            Fira doesn’t get a chance to answer because another girl suddenly barrels into the pair of them, knocking them down to the ground.

            Poss and I rush over to check the damage caused by the little power ball.

            “SUGAR!” Fira snaps with a small groan.

            My jaw drops when I see a small brown-haired girl with purple eyes on top of Fira and her uncle. This girl did not cower in fear to Fira’s anger or even apologize for crashing into them. Instead she just gives a cheeky smile, “I want to see Uncle Stanley too!”

            This was Sugar Baby Loveatea, Fira’s younger sister. I had never actually seen her until now, when doing background checks on the family she didn’t come up a threat, so I didn’t pay attention to her over these years.

            Once Fira sits up and starts pulling on her sister’s cheeks, “that hurts, you know!”

            “OW. OW. OW. OW. OW,” Sugar cries as tears fall from her eyes.

            “Girls, stop it before you really hurt each other,” a sharp voice orders making everyone in the area freeze.

            Fira releases a groan when she hears the voice and flops over like a disobedient dog.

            “Fira, you are supposed to be in bed still – orders of your grandfather! And where have you taken that Hunter boy that Alistair brought home?”

            Poss doesn’t even say anything, just shoves me out of the doorway into the hall. Since, I was unprepared for the shove, I trip and further my embarrassment as I nose dive into the carpet.

            “This poor Human has yet to be feed, bathed or even given a fresh pair of clothes – yet you drag him from the medical level to explore and play around. This behavior is unacceptable for the future Queen of Lovemainea.”

            I straighten up and find myself at the feet of a woman with brown hair, in a short bob with several gray streaks. Her hazel eyes glare at me, while her arms cross her chest in a disapproving manner. The aura around her made me shrink to an inch – something my own grandfather couldn’t do. This is the power of a Queen, Supernatural or not, she holds the most authority.

            “I don’t want to be Queen,” Fira remarks right away getting to her feet.

            “Mother, this isn’t something that should be brought up right now,” Stanley tries to step between the two.

            “STAY OUT OF IT!” Both snap at the poor man. It becomes clear where Fira gets her high and mighty nature. It shows in how both women stand, same posture, head held high, eyes narrow as they stare each other down.

            He raises his hands in his defense and backs away with a look of regret. I learn from his mistake quickly making note not to get in between grandmother and granddaughter.

            “Here we go again,” Poss sighs with a bored look. “This happens about once a day, Fira tries to avoid it but Hannah always brings it up.”

            I give him a confused look, “why doesn’t she want to be Queen?”

            He shrugs, “she doesn’t have the confidence in herself to do something like that. Protecting a town seems to sit differently with her.”

            I frown before turning back to the two women. They are a mirror image of each right now, with how they hold their power. I’m sure if a physical fight broke out Fira would win hands down, but aura wise they were the same.

            “You are royalty, it is your birthright,” Hannah explains in an even tone. “That is why you’ll behave in a more normal fashion and start acting like a true princess.”

            “Don’t tell me to be something I’m not!” Fira snaps with a fire in her eyes. “NO one is normal – there is no normal, because everyone is different. I act and do how I feel I should,” she speaks with her hands, putting them to her heart and making all kinds of gestures. “Everyone else in the world has past experiences to help frame their personalities, but I have none. I judge with my heart. I do as my heart says and act on it. So, I’m not like everyone who get scared and follows the norms because they have the past on their minds. I am me and I’m never gonna be sorry for who and how I am.”

            A sack of rocks hits my stomach upon hearing those words. She struggles every day to find herself. I could never comprehend how lost she feels when she wakes up in the morning or when she lays her head down to sleep. Everyone in town is trying to lay out her path for her as well.

            _How can anyone know what they want for the future if they don’t know their past?_

            Hannah is quiet for a few moments before letting out a sigh, “you use that speech every day.”

            Fira narrows her eyes in anger, “I’ll keep using it until it gets through your thick skull.”

            _She doesn’t hold back punches, does she?_

~~~~~~~~~~

            Too much happened after that for me to keep up. Somehow Stanley managed to break up Fira and Hannah. I was sent back to my medical room to keep recovering from the fight. I could still feel that I was pretty drained since, the small tour nearly took everything out of me.

            Poss promised that food would be sent to my room shortly. Which was great news since my stomach thought now was a great time to feel hungry.

            A knock on the door jolts my attention from the random TV channel I was watching.

            “It’s open,” I call.

            “Sorry, I brought your food, since I didn’t get to properly introduce myself,” Stanley’s smile is kind as he brings in a tray full of food.

            My mouth waters at the sight of several sandwiches, a pudding cup and a glass of milk, “It’s fine, things got out of hand really fast.”

            “Heh, Fira and Mother are too much alike yet so different,” he replies placing the tray on the bed within my reach.

            A nod is all I give, trying to think of how to approach the one question that is really on my mind. He seems like a formal guy and I would hate to sound rude – but Fira seems to possibly be the rudest person in this household.

            “You looked like you had seen a ghost when you first saw me, care to explain that?” His question caught me off guard.

            “You noticed that?”

            He smirks some, “I’m a Hell Fox-Fairy hybrid; I’m very good with details in people’s reactions.”

            Needing time to think, I grab a sandwich and stuff most of it into my face. Chewing quick yet slow enough not to choke. A simple peanut butter and jelly, I really can’t complain. Yet, somehow it tastes so much better than the ones I’ve made for myself over the years.

            Once I swallow, “I’ve seen you at the Hellsing Manor – two years ago; before I was sent here to judge Fira.”

            Surprise passes over those blue eyes, how much they remind me of Fira’s nearly throws me off, but the fact that brown hair falls around them and the shape being different grounds me. Stanley sits in the chair and props his chine on his hand.

            “I have split personality disorder due to my cross-breed DNA. The good, loving, fairy magic conflicts with the unruly, greedy demonic energy,” he explains not truly looking at me but through me. “Sure, you saw me there, but it was probably the personality known as Stan. He’s threatened by Fira’s power. He’ll do anything to get rid of her because he wants the throne for himself.”

            I’ve heard of that happening. Two unalike breeds having children and it turns out unstable. He’s not fully in control of himself because he doesn’t have a balance or something to ground the two powers.

            “Yet, no one worries that something like that won’t happen to Fira?”

            “Correct, because she has that human gene from her father. It keeps her two supernatural sides tame enough to prevent any clashing in her mind,” he finally looks at me. “I need you to keep that tid-bit of information to yourself. I can’t have Fira knowing about any of Stan’s moves.”

            “Wait – why?!” I try to figure out why he wouldn’t want her to know, “why don’t you just go to my family and call them off?”

            He shakes his head, “some things are fated to happen. My wife told me this so many times. She made me swear that anything Stan does regarding Fira, I let happen.”


	6. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

            A couple of days has passed since my stay at the Loveatea Mansion. It was beyond the normal hospital stays that I have ever experienced in all my life. Being a Hellsing, I have sat in the hospital for periods at a time.

            Izzy was irate when I showed up at our apartment, she ran through several odd lectures about how irresponsible it was of me to get capture by the ‘enemy’. I did stop her to remind her that Fira isn’t an enemy of the Hellsings, yet. She wasn’t pleased with that but left me alone.

            Now, I sit in my living room watching random TV shows. I’m supposed to be writing a report about what I learned about Loveatea family. Basically, tell all the dirty deets that they told me with trust. Thought, I still find it odd why they felt they could trust me so much in a short amount time.

            “ _Fira trusts you and she doesn’t trust just anyone.”_

            Her mother told me that the second night of my stay.

            I had never seen Stacy Loveatea until then and her appearance is shocking.

            She is a taller, actually average height for a woman, than Fira. Instead of cobalt blue or purple eyes like either of her daughters, Stacy has soft hazel-amber eyes. But other than those differences she looks just like Fira. Same heart shaped face, eye and lip shape, even their noses were the same. Yet, somehow being the mother of three teenage children, she did not look a day over twenty.

            I’m trying to figure out if it comes from being a fairy, since they do have longer life spans than humans. Or she just took really good care of her skin.

            Fira trusts me.

            That is something I can’t wrap my head around. It seemed like she was being more formal with me the entire time I was there. But no one seemed worried or thrown off by her behavior, like it was all normal for her to be that way.

            “I want to know her better,” I say out loud.

            “Know who?” Izzy asks dropping a couple of files on my lap. “The Hybrid?”

            A sigh escapes from me as I pick up the files, “why are you so shut off about this? And her name is Fira.”

            Izzy flops onto the couch next to me, “I know her name, but I have no reason to call her by it. I have no respect for what she does.” Flipping open the top file on my lap, “read what I have seen about her. Because unlike you, I actually keep an eye on her for at least twelve hours a day.”

            I shake my head but read over what my sister has written.

            Most of it was stuff I already knew, stuff that I already turned in. But a lot of the events were told from another side of the story. Here, I have been doing everything just from Fira’s side of things. Izzy hasn’t – she’s gone to every person Fira’s gotten into a fight with and asked them why it happened. Why they go after Fira.

            _She’s asking all the whys that I’ve been missing._

            “The only person, you should really consider is Devin De Vill,” Izzy states pulling me out of the file.

            “What? Why?”

            The Mayor’s son is a notorious play boy, he’s got a new girl on his arm every half hour, sometimes has several at once. They all know and yet don’t care about the fact that he’s playing them because he’s honest about it. I have no idea how he hasn’t been killed by some angry woman, yet - or even an angry father – I’ll never know.

            “Devin believes in Fira like you do. If you talk to him, you may understand some of the things you are missing.”

            “He’s literally the son of the Devil,” I threw my hands in the air. “I can’t just walk right up to him and go, ‘oh hey, let’s talk about Fira for a second!’. That will go so smoothly.”

            “He has romantic interest in her,” she threads her fingers together over her knee. “Or at least that’s what the rumor mill says.”

            My stomach drops to the floor. I barely know if I have romantic interest in this girl and yet the sound of a love rival sucks, a lot.

            “I don’t have romantic feelings for Fira.”

            _Who am I lying to? Myself or my sister?_

            “Well, you got something for her and it’s bad,” with that she gets up and walks out of the room.

            _She always knew how to leave me alone to my thoughts._

~~~~~~~~~~

            The pattering of rain falling is all I can hear as I walk the school’s court yard. I have been summoned by the very Devil I dreaded meeting. I know that him being the type of person he is, he has plenty of people giving him information about the happenings in the town.

            “Why did you pick outside when it’s raining out?” I ask out into the empty space.

            At first glance it did seem empty, but suddenly when I blink a young man with an umbrella is standing several feet in front of me. He’s dressed head to toe in a black suit with a red dress shirt and fedora.

            The brim prevents a clear view of his face at first, yet I’m still not prepared for the fear that strikes me when his finally reveals his amber eyes to meet my gaze. Everything just suddenly stops, when you meet a Devil. Your heartbeat, breathing, the events happening around you – it all just stops when you make eye contact with one of these soul stealing demons.

            “The weather in Wisconsin can have a mind of its own – it wasn’t supposed to rain until tonight,” Devin replies with an easy look.

            “Whatever, what do you want from me?” I reply pulling my hood more over my head to try and keep dry.

             “What, a guy can’t say he wants to meet up with another guy just because he wants to talk?” He shrugs a looks a bit saddened as he says this, but I know it’s an act.

            I give him a be serious look, “you pulled me out in the middle of class – to talk in the rain! It’s freaking cold here!”

            “It’s Wisconsin weather, if you don’t like it – give it five minutes and it will change,” Devin remarks.

            I’m officially blown away by this guy’s attitude about the weather! It’s crazy in the Midwest, it’s cold one day, then summer weather the next. How does it change that much over night?! They even have like a 30-degree difference between their daily high and low temperatures.

            “I’m so confused by you and your Wisconsin weather!” I snap stuffing my hands into my pockets.

            Devin looks confused for a moment, “you’ve never heard that saying before? I would have sworn that Fira would have taught it to you.”

            _What does Fira have to do with some saying about the weather?_

            “Is this seriously about her? Because you’ve free to try asking her out – it’s cool with me,” I state as I try to look like I mean it.

            “You lie to yourself,” Devin replies with a large sigh a dramatic shoulder slump before looking serious. “But yes, this is about her. I want you to stay away from her and stop the judgement.”

            This throws me through a loop since, I hadn’t told many people about being a Hellsing or even the fact that I was here to watch Fira to deem her worthy of not being a threat to humans. How would Devin know this?

            I’m at a loss suddenly. “H-how-?”

            “I’m a Devil and this a town where Supernaturals are supposed to feel safe. There’s been a lot of tension since you and your sister arrived. If you seriously thought no one in this town knew how to spot a Hunter, you are very wrong there. We have a special class offered to all Supernaturals to teach them how,” he explains as a darkness fills his tone.

            The little hairs all over my body stand on end, I’m in some serious danger if I don’t get out of here soon. He may actually do something to me if I don’t listen to him.

            “Look, it’s not as simply as you make it seem-,” I start but anger flares in his amber eyes.

            “Because your sister is making matters worse for you? Remind her, who is in charge! IF you are the older brother than stop letting her act like the babysitter!”

            It was like a knife to the gut, yet his words were the hurtful, soul-deep truth. I have let Izzy take the reins on my mission. I was given the mission, she only came along because no Hunter goes on a mission alone. There was always a buddy system because it kept more people alive that way. Yet, somewhere along the way, Izzy took control of this.

            _How do I stop it? When did she take control? Why was it so easy for her to take control?_

~~~~~~~~~~

            “Hey, want to come with me tonight,” Fira’s breath is warm on my ear.

            My hoodie is still soaked from my meeting with Devin. So, it came as a shock when she randomly appears out of nowhere with her question. Her body heat causing mine to shiver, though it felt good to feel her heat.

            “Come where?” I blink trying to figure out her end game.

            Was this girl trying to play me or actually be my friend?

            “I have some Underworld stuff to deal with. Some big guy thinks he can step out of line. Devin asked me to remind him who was in charge,” she explains playing with her ponytail.

            “Underworld?” I raise a brow trying to understand.

            Her blue eyes have a playful look, “you know, Black Market, Mafia, and gangs; that kind of stuff. Every place, has it, so why wouldn’t Witchland? We’re far from a perfect society.”

            “Why would he send you to keep-,” I trail off as it clicks.

            She’s possibly the highest ranked demon in this town. She has claimed this town as her territory, Devin is merely taking advantage of this and using her as a guard dog. What crime lord wouldn’t fear a powerful being like Fira?

            “It’s an arrangement the town and I have. The crime lords can sell their merchandise as long as it stands within line that Devin and his mother set. Some get out of those lines and need reminding that if they step out of those lines, they are no longer safe.” She explains with a smile, “so, do you want to come with me? I think you’d like to have some fun.”

            “How can this be fun?” I ask looking at her like she’s grown a second head. “This sounds extremely dangerous, even for you.”

            An odd look passes over her face, “you don’t think I can handle myself.” Before I even have a chance to defend myself, she’s up and gone- leaving the air around me cold.

~~~~~~~~~~

            It isn’t hard to track Fira down. She doesn’t try hiding herself at all, like she’s not even trying. Then again, why hide from the one you are hunting? If anything word has gotten round that she was coming for this guy, and he should be the one trying to hide.

            She enters an odd shed, it’s a small garden shed, nothing much could be hidden in there. But when she fails to come out after five minutes, I realize how wrong I was. Opening the door, I found a staircase leading down below, into the depths of this town.

            “She really meant Underworld,” I mutter before heading down after the crazy woman.

~~~~~~~~~~

            I found myself jumping when she steps out of the shadows at the bottom of the stairs.

            “Jumpy much today?” She teases with smug look.

            I can’t help but take in her outfit. It was different from earlier in the day. She had worn lose jeans and a graphic tee. Now, she wore something a bit flashier than her normal taste. A black, fitted tank top under a red leather jacket, tighter jeans with boot cut and pair of black heels.

            “I thought you were long gone,” I reply trying to ignore the tease.

            “You’ll stand out if you don’t act like you belong,” She states in a simple manner.

            I don’t get to ask more questions as she take my hand in hers and drags me down the dimly lit hallway. There are doors on either side of the hall, every several hundred feet. What could all be down here? I have no clue.

            The air and ground around us starts to vibrate to a beat, like someone was playing some really loud bass music.

            “We’re getting close to the club,” Fira explains not looking over her shoulder. “Shock will be found there. Devin told me, that he likes pretty girls.”

            “Please, tell me you don’t plan on using yourself as bait,” I groan as she tightens her grip on my hand.

            “I can handle this,” she quips.

            “I believe you, but I can still worry,” I explain returning her squeeze.

            Her breath catches for a moment, but she doesn’t make a comment on my statement as the music gets louder. It feels the empty space between us that I don’t know how to fill, though I can feel the tension rolling off her in heavy waves.

            “You’re not alone.”

            Moments later, we enter into a dance club. Colorful, flashy lights dance across a smoke and fog mixed room. Hundreds of bodies move to the beat of the music, several cages are hung from the ceiling with dancers in there.

            I am amazed that a place like this was somehow built underground, and it looks like a normal dance club. Only difference is that the number of exits are far more limited than if it were above ground.

            “We do have certain creatures that can’t be exposed to sun light. So, there is an underground to the whole town,” Fira explains before she does a quick scan around the room.

            “I-I know that,” I stammer trying to recall every fact about this town I know, this wasn’t on my list.

            “We best move to blend in,” she takes hold of my hand and drags me to a booth close to the dance floor.

            Fira has this odd way of making it look like she belongs, even though her eyes darted around the room gave away her unease. Yet, she could move with a swagger that could fool just about everyone in the room that didn’t know her. The heels added a sway to her hips that wasn’t there before, and it makes things hard not to look.

            As soon as we sit a waiter comes over, wanting to get our drinks quickly.

            “Huh, just a soda,” I say simply, only to get a strange look.

            “I’ll take my usual,” Fira states with a sweet smile.

            The Waiter writes it down, “One soda and a whiskey.” Then he walked away without checking for I.Ds.

            _Hold up, she’s not of age._

            “You’re not of age,” I remark with a troubled expression.

            “It’s an Underground dance club, run by the Underworld and Black Market of Witchland. They know but don’t care. Besides, I drink with my grandfather occasionally, when things get too stressful,” she explained as her blue eyes studied the dancefloor like a predator on the prowl.

            “You’re on a mission from Devin,” I seethe trying to get her to see reason.

            “I have no rules expect to get the job done,” She quips resting her chin on her hand. “We have to blend in, so if it must come down to it, you are driving home.”

            Letting out a large sigh and shaking my head is all I can do to show that I give up this fight. She somehow has a counter to every argument I could come up with, like she is ready for anyone to catch her in the act. Plus, I am sure Devin would bail her out of jail if she ended up there somehow.

            “Well, well, isn’t it the infamous Fira Loveatea,” an over-sized man chuckles coming to our table.

            His hair was light in color, though it’s hard to tell in the flashing lights, hard and cold eyes. His face holds some charm, but the scar along his right eye and left temple to jaw ruin it for him. A gold chain stands out against his collar bone that is exposed by his unbuttoned dress shirt that’s tucked into his jeans.

            “Shock, you sure take your time,” Fira rebukes as the waiter comes back with our drinks. “I was able to cross the door way and order a drink, and I thought you liked pretty girls.”

            “Well darlin’, you’re a goddess in the eyes of most around here, when it comes to level of beauty,” Shock returns without missing a beat. “So, what brings you down here? And who’s your date.”

            Fira casually sips her whiskey with a slight eye roll, “he’s just a friend making sure nothing bad happens to me.” The amount of calm in her voice shocks me, as she maintains eye contact with this giant of a man, “I’m here because I heard you’re selling some magical water. I had to see what that’s about.”

            Those cold eyes spark at the mention at the water, while a smug look pulls at his scarred face, “I am about to start selling some bottled water, I call it the ‘Water of Desires’. Would you like to sample some?”

            I flash Fira a confused look, since when does a black market sell plain bottled water? Or is there something special about the water that I am missing? There is no way for her to possibly tell me that this is why Devin sent her here.

            “Yeah, but only if you tell me about it first,” she replies brushing her bangs out of the way. “Word is, it does some crazy stuff and it’s different per person.”

            Shock has a blazer on his arm that I hadn’t noticed before, and pulls out two bottles of water from it. A plain plastic bottle filled with regular water from what I can see. It doesn’t sparkle or shimmer in any magical way.

            “One for the both of ya,” Shock explains. “As for the about it part, well I got some witch on my side adding to the powers of Truth Lake. Instead of making people tell the truth, it makes them act out their deepest desires or even the very sin of their being.”

            “So, you’re taking the magical properties of The Lake of Truth and using them for profit, by adding a desire potion to it?” Fira questions as she uncaps the water and sniffs it.

            “Yes, it started as a crazy idea that worked out well. It was meant to be a joke for a pal of mine, but the effects were so powerful, I had to turn it into something big.”

            I watch as, without fear, Fira drinks some of the water.

            “Wow, kept the water taste to it,” She comments before draining her whiskey and standing up.

            In one fluid motion, she throws the glass in Shock’s face, making him bend down to shield it with his massive hands. Yet, before he has to chance to nurse his injured, Fira grabs the back of his head and connects it with her knee, then flip him onto the floor with his arm twisted at an odd angle while a heel dug into his shoulder.

            “Well, that fact that you are ruining a historical marker of our town, for your personal gain, is out of bounds. Devin says stop this mess or start planning your funeral. If I have to see you again, it will be the last time,” With that warning she lets him go and steps away. “Are you coming, Jackson?”

            I blink rapidly trying to process what I just saw happen and, yet I can’t. But I stand up and quickly follow her, while pocketing the extra bottled water from Shock. Maybe, she could turn it into Devin to create something to reverse the effects.

            Then worry sets in.

            _She drank this water. Fully knowing the effect, it would have._

            What could her deep desire be? Would her demonic side take over and unleash Hell on the town?

            _She’s calm about it, so she knows what it is. Or she thinks she does._

            “How are you feeling?” I question once we get to the hall we entered from.

            Fira stops, allowing me to catch up to her. “I spend a lot of time at the Lake of Truth, the effect of the water doesn’t bother me too much, plus I’ve learned to just always be truthful anyway.”

            That explains a lot of things I have noticed about her, but I know it is not possible to be fully immune to something like the lake’s power, no matter how much time is spent there. This puts me on guard.

~~~~~~~~~~

            Once free from the underground, Fira doesn’t head home, or even towards her home, instead she heads to the forest. An empty look covers her expression as she walks away.

            “Fira?” I question when she comes to a stop at the edge.

            “There’s a magical sight, I need to see it,” she replies before holding her hand out to me. “Come see it with me?”

            The empty expression becomes lonely and sad. I could guess that she is lonely, but I have never actually seen her look it. A pain tugs at my chest, because being alone isn’t fun, because being a Hellsing, we’re always moving for jobs.

            “Yeah, I’ll come with you,” placing my hand within hers. Our fingers lacing together, creating a physical connection that we didn’t have before. An energy buzzes in every place our skin touches. Her hands softer than they seem, yet I just saw her display what these powerful hands can do. This would bother most people, but I am the same as she is. Someone fighting to protect the innocent.

~~~~~~~~~~

            It only took several minutes of walking before I notice colorful lights dancing among the trees ahead of us.

            Coming into the clearing, I saw why it was a magical sight.

            The flowers are glowing vibrant shades of reds, oranges, blues, and purples. From the flowers little balls of light float up into the air and drift around like fireflies. I have never seen or even heard of these flowers.

            “What are these?” I ask bending down to look at one.

            “We call them Witch’s flowers, no one knows where they came from or what causes them,” Fira explains kneeling beside me. “They stay in bloom all year, and the glow dies when they are removed from the ground.”

            These are mysterious flowers and, yet they are so breath taking.

            “I’ve been here alone, a lot.” Fira states suddenly, “but this is the biggest couple’s make out spot. Just another place I don’t belong.”

            That sadness of hers comes back like a ton of bricks.

            “I told you before, you don’t have to be alone,” I whisper running my thumb across the back of her hand.

            A million thoughts are always running through my head and a single action silences them all. Warm lips pressing against mine, her hands knotting into my hair and pulling at the strands. The buzz from our hands appearing where we meet and intensifies when I return it.

            A simple, innocent kiss between two lonely people. But there is so much more heat between us, something I can’t explain as we pull away for air. Air that feds the fire within us, making it burn brighter and hotter.

            With a single push and a flurry of lights, she’s on the ground underneath me. Our lips melding together again, this time the space between us doesn’t exist. Her tongue is sweet and addicting as our bodies try to close space that isn’t there. Nails digging into skin, soft moans and gasps.

            Her legs wrapping around my thighs, locking our hips together. Our only salvation is within each other. Escape from this horrible world that only wishes to remove innocent lives so that the ones with power can thrive. The world where I am a hunter and she is my prey and somehow, in this moment, the roles are reversed.

            _This shouldn’t feel so right, but it does._

            If only air wasn’t such an important thing, because I must pull away for it.

            “I guess, we know your deepest desire,” I whisper between gasps.

            Those beautiful blue eyes widen in fear as she shoves me away. Not a word spoken as she scrambles to her feet and takes off into the dark depths of the woods. Allowing my thoughts to return even though the buzz hums under my skin and deep in my chest.

            _She knows how to give out mix signals._


	7. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it took so long for an update, I have been stuck in a rut where I want to write only whole new story lines; instead of working on the ones that really matter right now. I am trying my best, you can actually message the characters of this story and others at the tumblr linked at the end of the chapter.

Chapter 6

            “I want to know who seriously passes out in the middle of the forest,” an unfamiliar male voice rings in my ears.

            The last thing, I can recall is Fira leaving and I took to gazing at the stars, trying to get my thoughts straight. Must have fallen asleep without even realizing it.

            “Be quiet, he is a hunter and I don’t want to bandage any wounds you get for being stupid,” a feminine voice replies with a bitter tone.

            “Stop fighting,” another male voice snaps, holding enough power to make even me flinch.

            The sensation of eyes fills the back of my mind, “he’s awake.” The girl says, the smirk clear on her tone.

            I open my eyes, giving up on trying to make a further fool of myself. A wooden ceiling with a single fan tells me how small this place is. The fact it’s wood, tells me that this is a cabin. The scent of a fire fills the room, says there’s either a wood stove or a fire place going.

            Carefully, I sit up and take in the three people around me. Two guys and one girl, all look on guard, but not much of a threat if I don’t look for a fight. I do notice that one guy and the girl have some bright, fire red hair and neon pink eyes. They could be siblings or just related.

            “It’s about time you woke up, thought you’d sleep the whole night away,” smiles the girl as her eyes glitter with mischief. “That would have made grabbing you pointless, and then we’d have to carry you back.”

            “May I ask who you people are?” I ask rubbing my neck some.

            The redhead male suddenly got in my face, “all you need to know is that we’re going to be a pair of new classmates,” he states before getting a dirty look, “You and I will be buttheads a lot too, by the looks of things.”

            “Flamed, shut up before I send you back,” the other male orders.

            I notice he’s got black hair and blue eyes that remind me of a certain young woman. Taking a careful look at his facial features, build and posture, I can guess he’s her twin brother – the missing one. I take notice to the fact he wears all black, and has as much skin covered as possible.

            The redhead, Flamed, groans and moves out from in front of me, “you’re taking all the fun away.”

            “This is a mission, not a vacation to have fun,” the girl quips while she hits his shoulder.

            “Is there anything you can tell me about why I am here?” I interject, this gets blank stare in my direction. “I mean, you brought me here for some reason, I just thought it was something more important than your odd argument.”

            The red-haired twins look at each other before looking at their dark leader. Questioning looks pass over their features, while his blue eyes were void of anything I could read. Like his sister, he is schooled in closing out the world from his emotions; only his sister has learned some expression. For some reason, I get a selfless vibe from him.

            “Is this about Fira?” I raise a brow, trying anything to get them to give me some sort of answer.

            “Yes,” all three replies in union.

            _That answers several questions at once, yet leaves so many more unanswered._

            “Let me guess, you want me to stay away from her,” I guess with a sigh.

            “Yes.”

            “Well, that’s a problem since she comes to me more than I go to her,” I explain running a hand through my hair. “She’s got her own plans.”

            “And I have plans to keep her safe from our past. If she doesn’t stay away from you, things will get dark and dangerous,” Fira’s brother retorts crossing his arms. “I’ll have done all of this for nothing.”

His lack of expression makes it hard to believe what he’s saying. What kind of person is he to even hold back his emotions when it comes to his family? Most people would show how much they care, yet he’s as blank as a plain wall.

  _But what kind of past does she need protection from?_

            “She has admitted to having no memory of her past, but how bad can it be?”

            “Look, don’t ask questions you don’t want the answers to,” the girl snaps before he can answer. “I think it’s time to send him back.”

            “Don’t we gotta wipe him?” Flamed asks with a raised brow. “To prevent him from spilling his guts, and ruining all this work?”

            “No,” Furor replies. “No one will believe him if he does run his mouth. Though, Alistair may but with how well I cover my tracks, even he’ll have enough doubt.”

            The girl’s face drops in horror. “Is that a good idea? I mean, what if he does get someone to believe him? Or just gets his family to come after you? He can’t be trusted!”

            “Fira trusts me!” I shout in my own defense.

            Shocked looks fill the cabin, while even I’m surprised that those words left my mouth. How do I know they will trust her judgment? I don’t know that. For all I know, they think her judgment skills are super lacking compared to theirs.

            My blood starts to rush as they pass several looks and gestures amongst themselves. Ones that mean nothing to me, leaving me in further in the dark than I started. Trying to solve a puzzle with missing pieces is not my strong suit. Izzy is better at reading people than I am. I just do all the hard work – getting rid of the problematic Supernatural.

            “That does speak volumes about my sister, since she doesn’t trust anyone.”

            “Fine, but if he messes anything up – I’ll wipe him myself,” Flamed crosses his arms and pouts like a small child.

~~~~~~~~~~

            Once they came to an agreement, magic was used to whisk me away from their hide out. Leaving me with no clue on how to find them, if I did try to prove anything to someone. Yet, I know better than anyone that trust is something to keep. Trust can take you far on slivers of information if you have enough of it.

            A strong headache sets in as I walk into my apartment. It hurts trying to wrap my head around everything that has happened in the past few days. Fira’s trust in me is the biggest problem that I can’t figure out. I haven’t given much reason to trust me – that I’m aware of.

            “You really need to stop disappearing without checking in,” Izzy lectures the moment I close the door.

            I shake my head, she’s supposed to be the younger sibling. Ignoring her is easy to do as I start searching the cabinets for some pain killers. The headache trying to cloud my vision now, probably an after effect of the spell used to send me away.

            “Are you okay?” Izzy asks finally realizing something is up.

            “Do I really seem like the type of person to trust easily?” I dodge her question with one of my own. But this was something I needed to know, and she probably would know the answer better than I would.

            A look of confusion passes over her dark eyes, but soften up. “You’re a really honest person. When people ask for help, you just do. You like to take blows for others in fights if you can, too. There’s a long list of reasons to trust you. Some people can see that right away; why do you ask?”

            I shake my head, “it was something someone said to me a couple of times these past few days. I just couldn’t wrap my head around the why,” I explain trying to keep things simple.

            “If our family did awards, you’d probably get a medal for most trusted,” She smiles, resting her hand on my arm. “Anyone who doesn’t trust you, is an idiot.”

            Her assurance makes me feel better, better enough to pull her into a hug and shower the top of her head in kisses. This causes her to squirm and push away from my affections, since it’s not something we do often. Being hunters doesn’t allow for much family affection, but I’m defective when it comes to that.

            “Stop it! I get it!” She squeals as I start tickle her sides.

            “Why? This is too much fun,” I laugh, before pushing it too far and upsetting her, by actually releasing her.

            She quickly steadies herself on the counter, her cheeks red from the laughing fit. “You are the weirdest member of our family, but I love you.”

            “I love you, too,” I reply before going back to looking for pain medicine.

~~~~~~~~~~

            Monday morning came, instead of having to go to homeroom; we have to go to the theater for some school wide announcement. Normally we are told Friday afternoon to plan accordingly but not this time. It really makes me wonder what is going on for the sudden gathering.

            Izzy and I follow the rest of the student body and find a pair of seats in the back. Several teachers and the Principal were gathered by the podium with Fira’s grandmother, Hannah. I guess that kinda explains why we are gathered in the theater, only people of great importance get to talk in front of the whole school like this.

            “That’s Fira’s grandmother,” I inform Izzy as she studies the older woman.

            Her nose wrinkles as she tries to process this information. “That woman is a Pure Blood Fairy, one that is of Royal status, too. How could she be related to the Target?”

            I can’t help but chuckle, “someone forgot to do a background check on the Target’s family tree.” Izzy is normally so well informed, but it seems this time I have the upper hand.

            “Her mother is a Fairy, with a Hell Fox grandfather. Her father is human.” She goes over the information in her head again. “Her mother’s brother is the one that gave us the information about Fira, he’s half Fairy and half Hell Fox, but nothing ever said anything about Royal status.” Her eyes widen as fear crosses them, “we can’t kill her, this could start a war between the Fairies and Hunters.”

            I shrug, “but it was family that turned her in. That nulls that bit, plus Hannah is aware that we are here making judgement,” I cross my arms. “She trusts I’ll make the right call when it comes to final judgement.”

            Her brows kit together with unease at my answer, “she’s not gonna make us stop?”

            “They’re from a place that strongly believes in following Fate. This is all part of Fira’s fate, so they have to let it play out however it turns out.”

            Uncertainty dances across my sister’s eyes as she tries to take in all this information. She isn’t liking how I suddenly have information she would have never learned, without getting close to the target. She is a firm believer in keeping your target at a distance, it can cloud the Hunter’s judgement.

            “They sure are a strange family,” she murmurs.

            Any thing else spoken goes unheard because Fira walks onto the stage. The sight of her is amazing, her hair is up in a high bun with a few stray stands framing her face. Wearing a pair of black shorts, white button up with a blazer and red tie. A pair of knee high heels somehow pull it all together. How she manages to rise to the occasion ever time never fails to amaze me.

            Hannah makes a face when she catches sight of her granddaughter and makes a remark that neither Izzy nor I can hear. It leads to them bickering, though Sugar shows up and manages to put an end to it before they start yelling. I recall a few of their screaming matches from when I was staying at their home.

            Fira and Sugar go sit down when the Principle gives the signal for the lights to be turned down. Spotlight snaps onto the podium, where Hannah is standing and looks like she belongs there. The whole place fills with silence with a single hand gesture.

            “Greetings young ones of Witchland,” Hannah begins, her voice is pleasant and song like. “As you all know, Halloween is at the end of the month – it is an important day for this town,” everyone starts whooping and cheering at the mention of holiday yet settle down quickly as anticipation fills the air. “It also happens to be Fira’s birthday. And to celebrate both events, my family and I will be hosting a ball at our mansion.”

            Everything explodes in that moment, everyone is cheering and jumping out of their seats. Flowers rain down, while fireworks go off out of nowhere. The amount of insanity over a party blows me off my feet, while even Izzy looks so confused about it all. How can one party bring this much chaos? Last I checked, Halloween is not a huge thing to anyone but small children, who want free candy.

            “I am so confused about all of this,” Izzy says above all the noise.

            I nod my head, “you are not alone.”

~~~~~~~~~~

            It took nearly half an hour to get the room under control again for us to be dismissed for class. We missed a good chunk of class because of the celebration, not that I am gonna complain, all my classes are a bit too easy for me. Then again, I’m just taking general classes instead any special courses.

            “JACKSON!” a certain Hybrid booms across the school yard. All eyes are on me in that moment, fear shivers down my spine because she sounds angry and I have heard an angry Fira is not a good thing.

            “What did you do to piss her off?” Izzy asks.

            I only shrug while the crowd parts for Fira, who makes her way towards us. She’s already changed out of the more formal clothes into a pair of black pants and shirt under an oversized red plaid shirt. Her hair is in the same style, and I realize why her grandmother pitched a fit before the whole announcement. Fira had used illusion-based magic to appear put together, she really hadn’t been wearing the nice outfit.

            I notice her march, how her hands are fisted as she closes in on us. I really pissed her off and I have no idea what I did wrong to get this reaction from her. Her eyes are blazing when she approaches and once she’s within range, the only thing I can think of is, “I’m sorry?”

            She stops and confusion flickers across her face before she crosses her arms. “What are you sorry for? Do you have plans already for the ball?”

            “How old are you turning again?” Izzy counters Fira’s question.

            “Seventeen, according to my parents. I just go with it because of the missing memories.” Fira replies with a shrug, “Grandma is making a huge deal out of it because I’m maturing as a fairy or something like that.”

            _“We need a final judgement by her seventeenth birthday, Jackson. That is when her powers will fully mature according to our informant.”_

            “Um, we do have some plans.” I say slowly.

            “The kind where you can’t be someone’s date?” Fira inquires with a raised brow.

            Cold sweat starts running down my back. She must know something about the deadline, it’s the only reason why she’s asking these questions. But why does she want to know if I have a date for the ball? It was just announced less than an hour ago.

            “You want my brother as your date?” Izzy asks surprised.

            “I don’t see any problems with it,” Fira says coolly.

            Izzy narrows her eyes, her lips becoming a thin line as she tries to piece together the puzzle that is Fira. Even I am still having a hard time putting that puzzle together, because I really don’t know what is going on.

            “Just think about it, I have an appointment to get to,” she pats my arm with a gentle smile. “No rush.” Then walks away like nothing unusual has happened in the past twelve hours.

            “What just happen?” I ask my sister.

            “You just got asked on a date by the target,” she replies simply before leaving me alone.

            “Since when is this some teen romance novel?!” I shout after her.

\-----

Ask [Tumblr](https://www.tumblr.com/blog/fireandpals)


	8. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

            “Do you realize that you can’t accept her request, right?” Izzy starts at dinner, sitting down in the armchair.

            I let my head fall, hitting the back of the couch. I am done with the whole topic of this dance and Fira. It is really old for me, being told that someone is bad before actually getting to know them.

Then again, Izzy was brought up differently than myself. Why? I’ll never actually know myself. But because of it I have been questioning a lot of things said and upheld by our family. Even more so now that I have met Fira and started to get to know her more than the target.

“Don’t start with me, Izzy,” I reply running a hand through my hair.

“What? I’m just trying to keep you in line about this whole mission. You’ve been going off track since you spent several days at her house,” she defends herself. “You’ve gotten really close to this target. Emotionally close and that’s not a good thing.”

I set my jaw, “she’s just a girl like you, Izzy. Am I really supposed to sit back and let her get killed for being powerful? She’s just trying to find her place in the world, and we’re judging her when she doesn’t know anything about herself.” Grabbing fists of my pants to keep calm, but my sister can see my anger levels rising.

“If this was a werewolf or some vampire, you wouldn’t be having all these second thoughts!” She stands up and stomps her foot, “this Hybrid has changed you a lot in a short amount of time and I don’t like it! I want my brother back!”

Finally, I stand up, “And I’m done with you acting like this is your mission! You’re my little sister not my babysitter. Stop sending all your files as mine because I haven’t made a final judgement!”

Tears fill her dark eyes, as she moves back, “you knew about that?”

I nod, “it took a while to figure out, but I did. When our grandfather starts asking when I’ll give my final judgement, it kind of gives it away. But he wants to act off yours, which is going to kill an innocent girl, and do harm to her family.”

The tears fall as Izzy shakes her head, “why is she so special? Why does how her family feel matter to you?”

“We know our parents, Izzy, but we don’t know them as our parents. We know what life is like for us and where we belong in the world. Fira,” I pause a moment trying to think of how she’d understand, “she really doesn’t have her memories. She is learning about life and her family. Her family would brake more than you know if we killed her for no reason.”

“But she’s dangerous, we’ve witness the fights and ruins she brings to this town because of how powerful she is,” she counters.

“Powers she didn’t ask for, that nature gave her,” I head for the door of our apartment.

“Where are you going?” She asks as I open the door.

“Anywhere but here,” I reply without much else to say.

I could see her flinch out of the corner of my eye, she still has questions but my cold shoulder hurts more than her thirst for knowledge. I realize as I walk about of the apartment building that there is no way for her to understand how I feel about all of this, because I don’t fully understand it myself. Everything is turned upside down in my head and has been for a long time, I just started to notice it.

            “You look like you need someone to talk to,” a chilling voice rang out.

            I stiffen as my eyes meet with cocky amber eyes, “I don’t need to talk to the likes of you.”

            Devin smirks, tucking his hands into his pockets and walking along side of me, “it seems like you are starting to realize the caged life you live in, isn’t perfect like you were taught. Funny how one person can turn a world upside down.”

            “You’re one to talk, Mr. Playboy,” I reply my eyes scanning the area for an out from this conversation.

            “Call me what you like, but at least I am free and true to myself and those around me,” he retorts with a smirk. “But, I can see why Fira trusts you, she knows you wear a mask to hide that you are lost in this world. You are just as lost as she is.”

            I am anything but lost, I know my place in the world order. I am a Hunter, I protect the Humans from the Supernaturals – it’s that simple. I just don’t see the point of killing one because she is powerful, and I want to help her.

            Yet, Devin’s words poke something deep inside. They make my stomach boil with anger, but I’m also still upset from my fight with Izzy. He’s just provoking old feelings to get a reaction. Take a deep breath and I’ll be fine. Just think before I speak and don’t let him rile me up.

            “Oh, that’s right,” Devin states pulling me from my thoughts, “you’re a hunter. You know your place in the world to protect the oh-so-innocent-humans. But there’s an issue with that, a lot of Supernaturals are just as innocent.” He grabs my hoodie and shoves me up against a wall. Drawing the attention of the people around us. I wasn’t expecting him to do anything, so all of this throws me off, and yet, his words prevent me from defending myself.

“They wake up every morning, go to work, raise their kids, kiss their loved ones, and go to sleep at night just like humans do.” His words drip with venom, while his eyes scream murder, yet his body shakes.

I know all of what he is saying. Why is he acting like I don’t know that? I have lived in this town long enough to have seen that. Supernaturals can live very human like lives when they try.

            “So why do humans need protection? I know there are several cases where humans provoked the attack and an innocent Supernatural was killed while the human was pitied for their wounds or loss of loved ones. Yet, it all gets swept under the rug like it never happens.” This blows me out of the water, what does he mean by that statement? I have never heard of that ever happening. We wouldn’t allow anything like that to happen, we do have a moral code to follow.

            “Bullshit!” I snap grabbing his wrist. “We would never do such a thing.”

            “Really? Because your sister was about to let that happen with Fira.” Devin retorts slamming me into the wall again. “Get it through your thick skull, you are a blanket covered, caged bird – blind to the most important things when the covers are pulled down.” Those words cut like a knife but make my stomach boil even more. “I refuse to watch one of the most innocent lives die by a Hunter’s hand in my town.”

            Something finally snaps inside, “I know that!” I shout shoving him off me, “Do you think I want her to die? There has been something pulling me towards her, and I can’t explain it. I barely know her, and I can’t bare for my world to become black and white again.”

            He takes several steps away from me, holding his arms out wide. A look in his amber eyes yelling for me to bring it on, “Then who do you want to be Jackson: the coward, who lives in a cage or a man, who has what it takes to protect the innocent?”

            I freeze at the question. My brain spinning all its gears in rapid succession just to form an answer that it can’t come up with. I have no way of knowing what the right answer is. On one hand I disgrace the Hellsing name, while on the other, an innocent girl dies by my hand. Both things are hard to live with because what if I am wrong and Fira goes rouge in the future? But what if I let her die I break her family all over again.

            “I-I don’t know.” I finally say avoiding his eye.

            He scoffs with a look of disgust, “you make me sick,” with nothing else to be said, he stomps off.

            His question runs through my mind several times before I look at the magical bracelet. Maybe it could be more useful after all?

~~~~~~~~~~

Fira Loveatea

Two Years Ago

            These first few weeks home have been hard. Police asking the same questions over and over, thinking it will bring back my memories. Memories that have been completely pulled out of my head to prevent me from looking back on them. My mom has to scare them off when I show any sign of distress.

            My best friend Poss is having just as hard of a time as I am. The only difference between us is that he has a lot more family to get to know than I do. My family is small, so it is easier to adjust, even though my twin brother is missing – or I’m told he’s still missing. He could be dead for all we know.

            “Sweetie, Devin, the Mayor’s son, is here to see you,” Mom says sitting beside me.

            I have been spending a lot of time in the family library, reading every book on magic and the supernatural that I can get my hands on. Though, my family is in the process of sending me to school to learn how to control my own abilities. I just want to understand this place I’m calling my home. There are so many different types of supernatural and magical beings, it can make one’s head spin.

            I set the book down, trying to recall what Devin is. His mother is human, that much I can remember. Yet, I do not recall what Devin is, but I know he is a supernatural being of some kind.

            “What for?” I ask looking towards the doorway.

            “He wants to give you a gift, to say welcome home,” she rubs my shoulder sensing how tense I am.

Meeting people bothers me for some reason. I can’t give a reason behind any of my problems. Something to do with my past? How horrible is my past that someone locked away all of my memories of it?

“Okay,” I reply seeing dark hair poke pass the threshold.

She smiles and looks towards the doorway as well, “Devin, you can come in; bring your friend as well.”

The boy with dark hair stepped in with a strange case in his hand. He looks over his shoulder and nods to someone. A girl with dark auburn hair come in close behind him, though she wears a displeased look on her plain face.

“I’ll leave you kids alone,” Mom states standing up and places a hand on Devin’s shoulder when he reaches us. “Call me if anything is needed.”

She plans on leaving me alone? I don’t like that idea at all. I grab her hand, “do you really have to go?”

Her hazel eyes are soft and warm as she smiles at me, “it’ll be good practice for when you go to school.” There is a look of hope in her eyes, one that her damaged daughter would become as normal as one gets in a town of supernaturals.

I fold to the desire to make her happy, “okay.”

Her smile brightens and pulled me into a hug, “you make me so proud.” My chest aches at her words, because I feel like I’m failing her somehow.

“Don’t worry about me, I’ll tell you if anything happens,” I assure her softly, and with that she left me alone with two strangers with an odd box.

“Devin, I really don’t need to be here for this,” the girl states glaring daggers at Devin.

I look at Devin as well, for being my age I can tell he’s very appealing to the eye. His smile makes this even more certain. “You did all the work to get this pup, don’t you want to see how it turns out, Ember?”

She crosses her arms and scoffs, “then hurry up, Conner’s got an appointment today.”

“What is in the case?” I question pointing to the case in his hand.

“Oh, this pup – it’s your gift,” he sets the case down and opens it.

Something yips and growls when he reaches in and pulls out a small, dark furred animal. Suddenly, I sense a demon in the area, one that I am not used to having in my territory. My body tenses, trying to locate how far into the town limits the demon has gotten. The outskirts seem peaceful, even the city.

“Don’t fret it, the demon you sense is this little guy,” Devin says holding the small thing out to me. “He’s a shadow wolf, a type of demon. I spelled the crate, so you wouldn’t freak out when Ember crossed the town line with it.”

“He was really hard to get a hold of, so take good care of him,” Ember snaps.

I carefully reach out to the small pup, “he’s actually kinda cute.” The wolf snaps at my hand, only for reflex to kick in and I slapped his nose, “no, bad.”

The pup growls at me and stares me down with his golden eyes, trying to out alpha me. I lock eyes with him and growl within my chest. The pup stops growling and curls up in defense. I grab it and rub his head.

“You will make a good alpha for this pup,” Devin states with a pleased smile. “What will you name him?”

The wolf’s fur reminds me of soot and ashes from a fire, “Ash,” I reply lifting the pup to look at his face again. “From now on he will be known as Ash.”

“Fitting,” Ember scoffed checking the time. “Devin, I’m going to need a ride home at this point.”

Ash barks at me, before I place him in my lap again. He’s my first friend since I’ve come home. I believe Devin is trying to become my friend, but I also feel like he wants something out of this.

“What do you want?” I ask looking at Devin. “You don’t just give people gifts without something in return.”

Devin tenses before relaxing and cocks a smirk, “asking for your soul would be too cliché. How about being my guard dog?”

Ember and I both give him a confused look. What does he mean by guard dog? Like a bodyguard?

“Guard dog?” I tilt my head to the side.

“There’s an underworld here in Witchland- a black market of sorts. My mother is having a hard time keeping those that are part of it in control and asked me to take over keeping the dealers in line. Making deals with them will only work so long, so I need someone with real power,” Devin explains. “You’re a Hell Fox of great power, and I have seen the aftermath of the few demons you have fought the past weeks. You’d be great for making them step back in line when need be.”

 “You want her to be your power lacky? You’re going to get her killed!” Ember snaps slapping Devin’s arm.

“Well, she has the perfect companion to help her out now,” Devin replies with a look of certainty, before looking back at me. “Train him well, you are his alpha now.”

I look at Ash in my lap, he’s so small I fear he won’t be as large as a normal wolf may be. He could and would get hurt by strong foes. How could I use him in fights against underworld criminals?

“Okay, I can do that,” I reply. “It’ll help me learn control of my abilities and understand how things work around here.”

Ember crosses her arms, “power is what works around here. The more powerful you are, the more respect and enemies you’ll have – so be careful. I had to do a lot of bartering to get that pup, so don’t get him killed so easily.”

I meet her blue eyes with my own, “I’ll do what I can for him.”

“Ash may be small right now, but he will grow quickly and become large enough for you and another to ride on,” Devin explains heading for the door. “Now, take care of him and I suggest a hair cut for when you get into fights.”

Without a real goodbye, he and Ember leave.

His remark about my hair makes me look at my long locks. I still wear them in pigtails that go down to my hips. I can see what he was getting at but not completely. I’ll have to talk to Mom about getting my hair cut.

~~~~~~~~~~

Present day

            Devin didn’t lie about Ash growing quickly and being very large. He reminds me of one of those CGI wolves from those _Twilight_ Movies. His head is so large that he covers most of my torso when he lays his head on my lap.

            “Fira, are you alright?” Poss asks softly from the side of my bed.

            Snapping out of my thoughts I look at my best friend, “I’m fine, just thinking is all.”

            The arch of his brow gives away his concern, but he doesn’t say anything about it. Our history allows us to read each other like a book, even if we are missing a large chuck of our lives. He knows when I’m going to do something stupid and I know when he’s going to have a panic attack.

            “Are you thinking about that Jackson guy?” He asks sitting beside me, earning a tail thump from Ash.

            I roll my eyes while tilting my head to look at him, “my every thought is not taken by Jackson.”

            He scoffs, taking his turn to roll his eyes while crossing his arms, “that’s a lie.”

            “You have no proof that I am lying, and you know I hate lying,” I reply rubbing behind Ash’s ear. “Besides there is nothing wrong with having a crush. I have been told it is very normal.”

            “Yes it’s normal to have a crush,” he agrees before getting in my face, “but not when they have been sent to kill you!”

            I sigh and tap Ash’s head as the signal to get off, which he obeys, “he’s only here for the judgement, which I will clear because all of my intentions are good.” I turn my back to him, getting off my bed from the opposite side of him.

            “NO!” Poss exclaims getting a look over my shoulder, “you don’t know that you will pass as innocent. They are Hunters and you are a Hell Fox – a rare type of demon. They might just kill you to have bragging rights.”

            He’s not wrong but I’m not wrong either. This fight could go on forever, with how little we actually know about the information Jackson has on me. It could all be bad because a lot of people in town don’t like me. Or it could be all neutral and lead nowhere. But the fact that I am half Hell Fox is reason enough for any Hunter to throw all facts to the wind and just kill me.

            Hell Foxes are both rare and powerful demons because of their ability to control the flames of Hell. Hunters love to tell stories about their greatest frets, and well, killing or even capturing a Hell Fox would make one famous.

            “I won’t let that happen,” I bark making him flinch.

            Poss shrinks back while holding a sad look, “I’m sorry; I’m just making sure you are thinking clearly. I don’t want to lose my best friend.”

            It’s my turn to flinch because his words hold a lot of truth of the both of us. We don’t want to lose the other no matter what. He’d have mental break downs all the time if I’m not here to help keep him grounded in the here and now. And I would just lose all control and sight of everything good and bad if he wasn’t here to make me think twice.

            “You’re not going to,” is all I can say to him.

            Before either of us can keep the conversation going, my phone goes off. I pull it out to see that it is Jackson, asking to meet up. The memory of kissing him in the woods ran through my mind, I don’t regret that kiss at all. Instead, I want more but don’t know how to go about tell Jackson that, though I did ask him out to the Ball.

            “I have to go,” I tell Poss heading out the door, sending my reply to Jackson.

            “What?! Where are you going?” Poss calls after me but I don’t answer.

~~~~~~~~~~

Jackson

            I meet Fira at the lake, given that it’s a private spot we both know of. It didn’t take her long to show up, though there is a gleam of excitement in her blue eyes. Eyes that I am falling for; Izzy is right, I am falling for this girl, but I can’t have her. The reason is my family’s rule of thumb.

            “What did you want to talk about?” She asks approaching me so casually.

            I can’t accept her invitation to the Ball, I have to cut personal ties from her. To keep her safe, because if anyone from my family hears about my feelings, they’ll call a misjudgment and kill her. That can’t happen, because this town needs her more than they’ll ever understand.

            “About the ball -,” I start to say but her sudden squeal.

            She grabs my hands and shakes them up and down, “you’ll attend with me?! That’s great to hear.”

            Her statement shocks me since she’s so happy about it. I no longer have the heart to say no, her happiness is more important. I just simply nod and give a small smile, “yeah, I’m going to the Ball with you.”

            “Good, because I’m going to be putting on a special kind of show there and I’m going to need back up for it,” she explains holding up her marked arm.

            The mate mark is covered by a bandage, but everyone knows it’s there. James hasn’t let it slip under the radar, going on and on about it to the whole town. No one reminds him that it was a forced marking, but no one praises him for his heroics either.

            “I’m going to burn this damn thing off and free myself from that bastard,” she puts on a shit-eating grin. “I’ve been doing a lot of research into how to get rid of this mark and finally figured it out.

            Burn? What exactly does she plan on doing to get rid of a mating mark?

            Well, I should at least tell her that we have to part ways after the Ball. It’ll make things easier that way. Devin’s question still rings through my head, but I still don’t have an answer.

            “Listen, I need to give you a condition with this whole date thing,” I say getting her full attention.

            Tilting her head to the side she asks, “what is that?”

            The afternoon light makes her hair glow against the browns and greens of the forest, making her stand out even more. She’s that beautiful, even Mother Nature wants me to know that.

            “After the ball… you have to forget about me. Cut off all ties with me, so I can tell my family my judgement and leave this town without you getting hurt,” I state while balling my hands into fists.

            Hurt blooms in those blue eyes and tears threaten to run down her cheeks, but she quickly pulls herself back together. Her expression becoming emotionless and impossible to read. My heart aches at the thought of her crying because of me, though I would have never pegged her to do someone to cry easily.

            “Ash get ’em,” she orders with a flat voice.

            The order confuses me until a large ash colored wolf is leaping at me from out of nowhere. Knocking me down and pinning me to the ground. Its amber eyes stare deep into my eyes while a growl hums low in its chest. I have no means of escape, and something tells me this is Fira’s pet somehow; so I couldn’t harm it even if I wanted to.

            “You’re such an idiot!” Fira snaps before footsteps running off tell me she’s left.


	9. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

Fira Loveatea

            I had gotten so pissed off at Jackson that the first place I ran to was the Elfish territory. Don’t get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with Elves, they are great and powerful beings in their own right and way. Cyrus, Sugar’s best friend, lives in this area; he’s part Elf and a great kid. Only problem is his older brother, Laurie, and he’s nothing but a total asshat to Cyrus for no real reason.

            “What are you doing on Elfish land, Hybrid?” An annoying voice called from the edge of the Elves’ settlement.

            Stopping in my tracks, I throw a glare at Laurie. He’s as good looking per usual, his long dark locks framing his sharp and perfect face. “Whatever the fuck I want,” I reply crossing my arms.

            A shit-eating grin spreads across his face, my response gave away that I’m upset. But I can’t help that Jackson’s words hurt so much, it’s already hard enough to stay away from him. And he wants me to force myself to just let him up and leave this town? I want to spend more time with him. I can’t explain a lot of what I’m going through, but I know what I want; I want him around and in my life.

            “Looks like someone is in a bad mood,” he approaches me while looking down his nose. His stance is graceful but ready to take a hit if I actually follow the urge to punch him in his perfect face.

            I listen to my gut and throw a punch, landing square on his chin. Damn him for being over a foot taller than me! His pointy-ass chin hurts. I bite my tongue as tears fight to spill down my cheeks, thought through sheer will-power, they don’t actually flow down.

            Laurie spews a string of cruses as blood runs down his chin, “you bitch, I should cut you down where you stand!”

            I take a couple steps towards him, “bring it, Asshat.”

            Drawing his sword, Laurie charges at me. It’s the same dance as the last few times we got into physical fights, he just wildly swings the sharp metal at me, while I dodge and egg on his anger more. Using magic to create a barrier to block his attacks, also pisses him off further.

            “Stop using your magic, it is unfair!” He snaps as we put some space between us.

            “I don’t have a weapon, it’s plenty fair,” I say as a tingle runs down my arm and builds up in my hand. I can’t help but smirk at the fact my magic finally wants to work when I need a weapon. “Now you are in so much trouble,” a handle starts to form in my hand and build up the blade.

            “Stop this barbarian act right this second!” A woman’s voice orders causing my magic to cut off.

            I raise the unfinished product in front of my face and frown, “who do you think you are cut-,” stopping when I see a beautiful woman with long brown hair dressed in a powder blue gown.

            “Who do you think you are to interfere in a battle of honor?” Laurie demands glaring at the woman.

            “It was far from a battle of honor, you dick,” I bark looking back at him, ready to fight him again.

            “Fira, please ignore the idjit and come with me,” the woman says calmly, then wraps her arm around my non-weaponized arm. Then with little problem, manages to drag me away, even though I am not walking.

            So many questions run through my head, trying to figure out who this woman is. She looks so familiar yet, I know I have never meet her before in the past two years I have had memories. She reminds me of my cousin Eli’s coloring, the brown hair that gotten darker towards the tips, and amazing powder blue eyes.

            “Who are you?” Escapes my mouth before I even have a chance to realize my mouth is running.

            The woman don’t even flinch, but instead smiles, “I’m your Aunt Lacie; technically I’m dead.”

            “Wait, what?!” I screech finally putting a stop to her dragging me off. “Then how are you even here, in flesh and blood? Did someone use dark magic? I was told that was forbidden magic.”

            She shakes her head gently, “I’m a time traveler; I can travel past my death as long as I see people who don’t know me.” The gears turn in my brain, that somehow still doesn’t make sense. I must be making a face because Lacie giggles at me, yet her eyes hold a world of affection. “You make the same confused look as your uncle. It’s very complicated to explain, but I am here to make sure everything goes together this time around.”

            “Everything goes together?” I rake my fingers through my hair, trying to understand what she is getting at.

            She leads me to a quiet corner of the woods, sitting me down and sits down. “It’s a long and strange story, but the simple version is about two soulmates, who have never had the chance to be together. Their families kept them apart, and when they would finally rebel to be together – one’s life would end.”

            A strong ache forms in my chest as she tells me this vague story, yet tears prick my eyes as it goes on.

            My aunt was part of our world’s Gods, she managed the fate of the people. It was a tasking job, especially when she was trying to start a family. But she did it with her time traveling ability. She’d help people head down the right direction, but now that she’s ‘dead’, the position is open. Only she has one last task left, to make sure these soulmate get their happy ending, break their endless cycle of torment.

            “Are you allowed to tell me who these people are?” I ask when she finished explaining.

            A nod, “It’s you and Jackson, I will make sure you two finally get the perfect ending.” She replies making my heart thump wildly.

            “What?!” I yell in surprise.

            “I can’t explain much, only that you have always been a Hell Fox and he has always been a Hunter. The head of the Gods has feared the children you two would have, but I have talked him down to allow a fairy tale ending.” She says while plucking some flowers and weaving them together.

            “Can you explain the Gods?”

            “There’s the Head, or King of Gods, Cosmos – he creates all of creature life. Aspen is his wife, and she creates all plant life. Aquarius is God of water and water-based storms, Pele is his wife and Goddess of light and fire. Tempest is Goddess of air and the storms that come with air movements,” she explains. “Elijah – the God of Love. Terra is of the Earth. Gray is Goddess of all judgments. Celeste controls all of time while her husband is Death. I was Fate, or at least the watcher of it.”

            My brows crease at her words. How does one just watch over the fate of billions of people? The more she tells me, the less I seem to understand our world.

            “How do you watch fate?” I ask playing with my hair.

            “I was simply brought in front of the Gods, they handed me a book and told me to protect it and make sure everything in it is followed. They also explained that I was only a fill-in until the true replacements for Fate have been born.”

            “Whatever happened to the original Fate?”

            “Fate left when they could no longer put up with Cosmos and his iron grip.”

            “Control-freak got it.”

            Lacie holds a book out to me, taking me by surprise by. It has a soft leather cover with no title. I couldn’t help but reach up and take it from her, it was thin and light, yet a could feel power coming from it. It didn’t look new, nor did it look really old, just well taken care of.

            “What is this?” I ask looking from the book to her.

            “The book of Fate, it wants you to have it.” Lacie explains opening the book. Weird writing fill the pages before, yet I could make sense of what is being told in these passages.

            “Why me?” The question can’t help but slip out, since I don’t feel like that I am not important enough for such a powerful role.

            “I don’t actually know myself, only that it will tell you the reason why in the future.” My aunt replies releasing the book to me.

            I cannot help but to stare at the soft leather for a few moments before returning her gaze. “I will take great care of this book,” I say to her softly. “But, I don’t know about your idea of Jackson and I being soulmates.”

            A look of concern passes over Lacie’s features, “you shouldn’t worry about that. Everything will fall into place, that is one of the reasons why I am here.”

            “He just told me to forget about him,” I remark feeling all the hope drain from my being.

            A strange look passes over her face, but she rests a hand on my shoulder, “don’t worry, a lot of things will work out. It’s just not gonna happen straight out like in movies. You have to work for it.”

            Her words help lessen the ache in my chest, but I still want to kick the shit out of someone to really help me feel better. Then again, I’ll feel bad afterword. I hate innocent people getting hurt for no reason.

            Then again, most would say I’m the reason so many feral demons appear more often. Since more feral demons show up, more innocent people get hurt because of me. So, I fight those demons to keep them from hurting people, only to be called the bad guy and it’s a never-ending cycle.

            “How do I turn out in the future?” I ask suddenly looking at my aunt.

            She looks thrown off, like she wasn’t expecting me to ask such a thing, but with a single deep breath she collects herself again. “You are an amazing woman, capable of everything you set your mind to. Even Hannah is proud of you, she always has been,” she replies.

            Mention of my grandmother causes a sour taste in my mouth, nothing I do seems to impress her. “I don’t feel that way,” I shrug.

            Lacie puts a hand on my shoulder, “I’m not supposed to tell you anything about the future, but you become a leader for this town, ending a war.”

            I pull my knees up and hide my face, so much is suddenly storming inside of my chest and it hurts. Meeting Lacie makes me want to ask so many questions, that she most likely cannot answer. I don’t know the rules, so I don’t know how to operate without her getting in some form of trouble.

            “What’s wrong?” She asks petting my hair.

            “I don’t know what to do about anything in my life right now. Everyone else has something to say or do to ‘improve’ my life. Right now, I also have to deal with this damn mating mark from a werewolf.” I sit up and gesture to the bandaged mark. “It was forced, and I researched how to get rid of it, only I need to do it in a very public place.”

            Thoughtful looks passes over Lacie’s face, “the world wants us to fall into certain places, but sometimes those places don’t fit who we are on the inside. You have to display what you want, be loud, be brash, don’t care about other people’s feelings for a moment.”

            “But what if what I want isn’t what’s best?” I ask.

            “Then find what is best for you,” Lacie replies in a calm manner. “It’s your journey of life, take it by the reigns and go down the unbeaten paths you want. Or grab the sheers and make your own path.”

            Never in my life has anyone said those kind of things to me. Sure, Uncle Stanley is supportive of what I want, even talks to Grandma Hannah about it but not much more than that. Mom always listens to moments of help and gives advise but nothing like this.

            My chest aches more at the thought of Mom. I should be talking to her about this trouble with Jackson. She likes him a lot from his short stay, approves of him a lot. Maybe she would know what to do.

            “Fira, I have to go now,” Lacie says pulling me from my thoughts.

            I’m sad she’s leaving, but I have a feeling she will be around again. “It is nice to meet you, Aunt Lacie,” I reply as I hug her.

            Feeling her body tense for a moment, tells me she didn’t expect me to hug but she relaxes and hugs me back, “don’t worry about the little things, I’ll be back when I can.”

            The face of a clock appears under her, only something was different about it. Several smaller clock faces are in it, all spinning in different speeds and directions. The large and main face moved backwards at a fast rate, but nothing that I couldn’t keep track of.

            “When are you going back to?” I can’t but ask.

            A brightness fills her smile, “to the day I tell your uncle about your cousin.”

            My shoulders drop in amazement, because she jumped into the middle of a fight that could have harmed her and the baby. It’s such a weird thought to process since she’s long gone, yet here at the same time. Pregnant with her son, who I know to be my age and grown.

            “Time travel always messes with everyone, but you handle it so well. Take care, and never fear that you are alone,” Lacie says before vanishing in a flash of light.

            I stand there a moment, thinking of everything she has said to me. I look at the book in my hands that she gave me. The most powerful object that I have probably ever held. I tuck it into the band of my jeans, until I get home. I still have somethings to do.


	10. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

Fira Loveatea

            Making my way home, I happen to run into my cousin, being tailed by Poss and the two new students from school. Eli wears a look of annoyance, while Poss chatters with Flamedra and Flamed. I nearly spaced that I invited them over for the night.

            “ELI!” I call out before racing up to hug him.

            Being unprepared for it, he stagers back,

            I needed to hug him, because for a moment I had taken him for granted. His mother broke up a fight that could have killed him. I could have lost him. Sure, he’s a know it all and way too formal about stuff but he’s still my family.

            “What is this about?” He asks softly returning the hug.

            Eli always gets so awkward about certain things, and girls in general can get to him. Being only a year older than myself, he spent most of his life with his nose in a book. When I came home, everyone made him help me out. So, he’s finally noticing girls.

            “I meet someone important today, she made me think of you and how special you are,” I reply.

            He raises a brow for a moment before it comes together in his head and he smiles before giving me a tighter hug, “I always knew she’d visit you one day.”

            “Touching moment?” Flamedra pipes up.

            I pull away, “something like that, but sorry I lost track of time.”

            “At least I know where you are going to be,” Eli snarks crossing his arms.

            “You’re a time traveler, you have future and past knowledge most would kill to have,” Poss points out.

            “That’s cool! I heard time travelers were rare, and if they do exist – they’re in hiding,” Flamed exclaims moving closer to Eli.

            “It’s all true, my status is supposed to be kept secret,” Eli replies shooting daggers at Poss.

            I sigh, shaking my head before heading back towards my house, “let’s go home and have Alistair bake something sweet to eat.”

            Flamedra perks up, “you’re speaking my language!”

            Eli marches up to my side and stares me down from the corner of his eye. Judgement and wariness dance around, though he does well to keep it from his posture.

            “What’s your problem?” I whisper as I keep looking forward.

            “They are the Princess and Second Prince of Hatemainea; why are you trying to make friends with them?” Eli asks narrowing his eyes.

            “Not for political reasons, if that’s what you are worried about,” I reply fixing a stray hair.

            “Not the point, their father is prime suspect in your kidnapping,” he explains softly. “He could be using his own kids to get to you.”

            “You worry too much, Flamedra moved here with Flamed because their parents don’t care for their second prince. They only care about the future heir, Ian, and who his future queen will be,” I retort throwing an arm around his shoulders and pulling him close. “Now, drop the subject before I give you more Hell than you can handle.”

            “Fine, you win for now,” he pouts pushing me away. We walk a little distance, before he turns to me, “oh, by the way our cousin Josephine has come for a visit until your birthday has past.”

            “That’s like three weeks away! I have to deal with her for three weeks?!” I shriek getting laughter from the others behind me.

~~~~~~~~~~

            Once I get home, my distant cousin is not alone, Ember and Devin are sitting in the foyer with Josie and my mom. I can’t help but wonder what is going on, because Devin doesn’t come over with Ember often unless something big is going on with the Underworld.

            “We are home,” I say walking up to them, side hugging my mom while trying to read Devin and Ember.

            Both of them actually look very relaxed and have duffle bags sitting by their feet. Where they going somewhere?

            “Hi Sweetheart, Devin and Ember came to your little get together. It’s nice to see your friend group growing,” Mom says giving me a tight squeeze.

            This is news to me, I didn’t even tell them about having people over. I just shrug and look over at Josie, her blue hair is wind blown messy and her sun-kissed skin makes her green eyes stand out. Of course, she just glares at me since she’s got a jealousy issue for some reason.

            “I over heard Sugar talking to Cyrus, so I asked if I could tag along,” Ember explains pulling my attention to her.

            “I bugged Ember into tell me what she was doing tonight,” Devin tosses out there. “I invited myself.”

            I cross my arms, “what if I don’t want you here?”

            A surprised expression is quickly replace with a nervous one in his amber eyes, “you…. But most….” He trails off trying to find his train of thought but isn’t sure what to say.

            “We do need more boys here, to even the odd,” Flamed throws out.

            I giggle a bit, “I’m only giving you shit, Devin. You’re welcome here whenever you want.”

            “I’ll let Alistair know about how many people are here, so he can prepare dinner for all of us,” my mom excuses herself and heads further into the house.

            “Where are we taking this party?” Flamedra asks looking around at my family’s home. “This place looked huge from outside, it’s a lot bigger than I thought it would be.”

            “My room, couch folds out and there are guest bedrooms on the second and third floor. Sleep where ever you want,” I say leading them up the stairs.

            Everyone follows me to my room and those who haven’t seen it before are impressed and jealous. I don’t blame them either, I sometimes feel like this giant room is too much.

            Poss and I watch as Ember goes to my movie shelf, Flamedra checks out my book collection, while Flamed and Devin look at the posters on my walls. No matter how many I get, I can’t cover all of the wall space I have.

            “My whole house could fit in this room!” Ember exclaims opening my closet then bathroom. “Holy shit! This bathroom is huge!”

            “I forget, you have a larger room than I do,” Devin remarks placing a hand on his hip.

            “I’m not trying to brag about my family’s money, but my grandmother designed the house when my mother was young, and basically made it a modern-day castle.” I explain rubbing my neck. “Ember, you’re free to use the bathtub!”

            SLAM! Click.

            Poss chuckles, given he has had to use my jetcuzzi tub at times as well. Ember somehow came from a harder situation than Poss does. Her older brother, Conner, has low scale autism, and goes through special therapies for it, making money tight for their parents. Ember takes charge in taking care of Conner most of the time, but sometimes even she has to get away.

            “She doesn’t waste time, does she?” Flamedra asks, not knowing the whole story.

            “Ember needs to de-stress,” Devin explains vaguely while crossing his arms.

            “What do the rest of us want to do?” Sugar asks letting herself and her friend, Cyrus, in.

            “Let’s let Ember enjoy a long, hot bath before we hit up the boutique room and have Alistair size them for the Ball,” I suggest with a small shrug.

            “Okay, what don’t you have in this house?” Flamed asks tilting his head to the side.

            “A true castle ballroom, we have one for like smallish gathering, but nothing to the scale of what is needed for hosting it for the whole school on my birthday,” I reply looking over some papers on my coffee table.

            Poss takes in this information, “then how does Hannah plan on holding this Ball here?!”

            Eli enters my room with Alister in tow, both holding trays with drinks and snacks. “Grandmother plans on creating a portal in the doorway of the ballroom and transport them to the Grand Ball room of the main Lovemainean Castle.”

            I stick my tongue out, “That explains a lot, given that she always wants me to spend more time there.” I can’t help the pout that comes with the thought, “I don’t want to be queen and it’s not going to happen.”

            Eli sets the tray down in front of me and sits down, “you are the chosen heir to the throne, unless you can get Grandmother to choose another, you will take on the throne.”

            “I could rule the kingdom a lot better than you, Fira,” Josie says calling our attention.

            “Settle down, Lady Josie,” Alistair steps in handing her a cup of tea. “If you were a direct heir for the throne you would stand a much greater chance, but Eli and Sugar will be chosen well before you.”

            I forget that Josie is like a third or fourth cousin to me, her mother is just a lady in waiting, since a cousin of Grandma Hannah married a noble. As for Josie’s father…. He’s one of the castle dragons, his name is Chimee (said like She-Me). It gets really confusing, but I guess being part dragon means she is unable to inherit the throne.

            Josie scoffs in disgust while crossing her arms, “what do you know about our country? From what I have seen, you’ve only been around for the past ten years.”

            My hair stands on end, Alistair is an amazing and gentle person but I’m not sure how he will handle Josie looking down her nose. He can deal with people making fun of him being a nanny, but his experience as a nanny is another story.

            “I have actually been around since the start of the Lovemainean Monarchy, I have helped raise and care for each heir. I can even recall raising Queen Hannah as a child. I left for a short period of time when Miss Fira and her brother were kidnaped,” Alistair explains with a defeated sigh. “I blame myself for leaving them alone too long, but King Len needed help with Lady Stacey.”

            Josie blanches at this new information as turns red from embarrassment. Even Flamed and Flamedra surprised at Alistair, but who can blame them, most people never hear of Vampires that have live as long as he has. Most get bored after a certain amount of centuries and off themselves somehow. Yet, Alistair looks forward to something in the far future.

            “Why haven’t you gotten bored?” Flamed bluntly asks like an idiot.

            “Dude, you don’t just ask something like that!” Cyrus exclaims while Flamedra tries to apologize about her brother, while she’s smacking his shoulder.

            Alistair’s dull red eyes soften, and he takes a seat, “because I enjoy children. Also, most have meet their soulmates and most likely lost them after so many hundreds of years.” He fixes some of his silver hair, “I have yet to meet mine, and know I will one day.”

            “How is that possible? I thought everyone gets to meet their soulmate early on in their lifetimes?” Josie questions, a sad expression is on her face as she tries to understand how lonely Alistair must have been all this time.

            “Some people get forgotten by Fate at times, but I have never felt lonely because I work for a very loving family,” he assures her.

            Sugar opens her mouth to speak but is cut off by Cyrus’s phone ringing. He pulls it out and looks at with a look of dread, which tells me his mother isn’t the one calling him. Does Laurie even know how to be nice to his own brother?

            Cyrus knew he couldn’t avoid the call, so he answers the phone, “hey bro.” His voice is small and fearful. I can hear his brother speaking angrily but couldn’t actually make out the words. Cyrus nods every so often as his shoulders drop more and more until they can’t anymore.

            “Alright, I will inform her,” he pulls the phone away from his ear and covers the receiver. “My brother wants to finish his fight with you… he’s not happy that you walked away with some woman.”

            I stick up my middle finger, “put ‘im on speaker.”

            He does as he is told, “okay, it’s ready.”

            “How about you stop whining like a little bitch and get your ass to my house and we will finish this fight!” I yell at the phone.

             Laurie did not like that response at all, “if you think you can run away from me-.”

            “I ain’t running away, I just think I shouldn’t have to come onto Elvish land every time you want your ass beat! My house as a large yard and we have plenty of weapons to use!”

            “Fine, be ready,” and he hung up.

            “Big words for someone who isn’t properly trained,” Devin smirks looking all of us over.

            “I got this in the bag, I’m not worried,” I reply crossing my arms.

            “Wait, what’s going on?” Flamedra asks looking between Cyrus and me.

            Cyrus looks guilty before having his gray eye look at me, “she’s going to into a sword fight with my big brother, since he’s always mean to me.”

            “Why is he mean?” Flamed asks looking concerned.

            Sugar pipes up, “something about only being half-brothers, and the fact their mother wasn’t married to Cyrus’s father when Cyrus was born. Laurie is full Elf and very traditional about it all, while Ava is very opened minded and moved on in life when Laurie’s father passed away due to illness.”

            The two look like they finally understand some of it, plus we didn’t want to give away all of poor Cyrus’s backstory. They haven’t reached that friend level yet.

            “So, with no proper training, you’re going fight him?” Flamedra questions looking at me.

            I shrug, “well, I have never had any proper combat training, I just wing it all. Have been for a couple years now.”

            “Why haven’t you gotten proper military training?” Flamed asks rubbing his head, “We got it once we started walking.”

            “Lovemainea is a peaceful country compared to Hatemainea; who is more of a war for power country,” Alistair explains. “So, unless we were at war, no one in the royal family receives any combat training.”

            I stand up and stretch, “I should get ready.” I look at Sugar, “Get Ember out of the bathroom and bring her to the back yard. I’ll need her skills in setting the rules.”

            “Okay,” Sugar replies as I make my way out the door.

            “I will help you, Miss Fira,” Alistair says following me.

            Poss also tags along, but I know it’s because he’s going to try to talk me out of it.

            “This is a terrible idea, you know that, right?” Poss asks using his long legs to pass me and walk backwards.

            “Nah, I do this all the time and you know it,” I respond tucking a hair behind my ear.

            “It is slowly becoming one of your worst ideas yet,” he reasons.

            I shake my head, “what can go wrong?”

            “Well, Laurie has had several years of training, where you haven’t had any,” Alistair reminds us.

            “Yeah, listen to him, he knows what he’s talking about,” Poss agrees while holding his arms out towards Alistair. “At least he’s thinking clearly, you haven’t been.”

            I stop in my tracks with a look of disbelief, “seriously? We are gonna fight about that subject now?”

            “Have you two been fighting about Mr. Hellsing again?” Alistair asks looking between us.

            “I thought we got past this, but I guess not,” I cross my arms with a small glare at my best friend.

            “Because I don’t trust the guy? How can I when he’s out to kill you?!” Poss karate chops his other hand to make emphases on everything.

            “I don’t have time for this, we can do this later, right now I need your support,” I say taking off again.

~~~~~~~~~~

            Laurie stood across the open field from me, while my group of fiends all sat in lawn chairs, sipping on their drinks as they watch. Alistair and Ember both stand in between us, acting as judges.

            Laurie not taking Ember seriously, since she is wearing a towel on her head and my bathrobe and throwing sass at Alistair for being a vampire nanny. Ember is not taking any of it and giving her all to Laurie.

            “The rules are simple, Alistair will call the end of the fight for any reason he sees fit. He knows and understand the Elfish Honor code, so don’t pull any funny business. Fira will not use any magic or her demonic form.” Ember explains loud enough for both of us to hear. “You both have training swords, they can still cut but the damage will not be as bad as a real sword. Anything else?”

            “How is this a battle of honor if I do not get to use a proper sword?” Laurie questions looking over the edge of the training sword.

            “Simple, Fira hasn’t been trained at all in any form of combat, where you have. This is far grounds,” Alistair explains with a calm look.

            “Well, I guess no one’s honor is on the line then,” Laurie smirks.

            “Hell no, if I win, you’re gonna apologize to Cyrus and treat him like a brother,” I snap pointing the sword at him.

            His face falls and he looks over at Cyrus before glaring at me, “he should fight for himself.”

            “He can’t because you never allowed him to get the proper training, plus let’s not forget what you did to his eye – that really dismissed any ability to become a knight amongst your people,” I reply with a dark look, “now, agree to my terms or throw in the towel and admit that you are someone with little honor.”

            Laurie’s shoulders shake with rage, “you dare lecture me about honor? You are taunting me before the fight has even begun!”

            I shrug, “they said I couldn’t use magic or my demon form. Nothing about taunting you to piss you off.”

            With that Alistair raised his hand up and brought it down, “the battle has begun.”

            Of course Alistair would pick that moment to start the fight. I’m not fully prepared and Laurie is pissed off because I made him be that way.

            He is across the field in mere seconds and swinging his blade at me. I nearly lose my balance trying to block his attack, but I’m not prepared for the impact to run up my arm. Several steps back, I regain my balance in time to catch the next swing. This time I use my open hand to brace the blade against his.

            We are face to face, while he adds more pressure to the blades, forcing me back more.

            “Why must you meddle in affairs that are not yours?” He asks before stepping back and hitting my blade with each word.

            “Because he is my sister’s friend and he is so unhappy! You should love your brother, no matter the difference between you!” I snap swinging my bald to counter his swings.

            “His father was a mutt, while mine was a noble Knight! There are vast differences between us!” He swings low, nearly getting my stomach

            “Ya’ll came from the same womb! That’s all that matters!” I move to the side and knock his feet from under him.

            My lungs are on fire, I really need to do more cardo or just work out more in general.

            Laurie hits the ground, is quick to bring me down with him. How? I’m not sure myself, I just found my face in the dirt while I hear him laughing.

            “Nothing you do is going to change anything, he is a useless life form,” Laurie says in between pants.

            “He’s not useless,” I reply getting up on my feet. “He can play the guitar and he’s great at it. If he puts his mind to it, he’ll get further in life than you. You’ll be left behind and that scares you. New generations are leaving the older ideals in the past, and you stand by those ideals.”

            He flinches, while gives me a chance at his open arm, but he quickly counters it. Knocking the blade from my hand and it flies several feet away.

            I stare in shock as I try to figure out what the hell I am supposed to do now without a weapon. Laurie’s sword is sailing towards my neck.

            I close my eyes while I flinch, grabbing the blade with bare hands and somehow take it from Laurie’s hand. I hear everyone gasps while I feel something warm slip down my arms before I toss the blade to the side.

            When I open my eyes I see the shock painted on Laurie’s face before I feel the sting of pain from the palms of my hands.

            “Only someone very brave or very stupid would grab the blade swinging at them,” Laurie says softly looking at my bloody hands.

            “Yeah, well, I get told that I am both,” I reply unsure of what to do with my hands.

            I’m terrified to move them, close them to slow the bleeding. My fingers twitch but the cuts on them throb.

            “Breathe,” Alistair says softly into my ear as his gloved hands cover mine. “Everything will be fine; slow deep breathes.”

            I start to shake as his white gloves go from clean, crispy white, to soiled red. Why am I such an idiot? My vision blurs with tears as I try to figure out how to stay calm, but nothing is working. How did this happen? I had everything in the bag.

            “This is a draw for now, Laurie, go home and we will deal with the rematch later,” Alistair says before guiding me towards the house.

            “I’m sorry…. I wasn’t thinking… I’m sorry,” I whisper since those are the only things crossing my mind right now.

            “You are alright, your grandfather will fix you up and everything will be as it should be,” Alistair assures me. “You never care for a life-threatening injury yet become a crying mess over small ones.”

            Gently, he takes me to my grandfather’s level of the basement, where Grandpa Len doesn’t ask questions only bandages my wounded hands. Telling me it’s nothing serious, just small scars that no one will notice. Kissing the top of my head, while reminding me how amazing I am.

            I finally calm down and stop crying when my friends enter the room we are in.

            “We need to get your properly trained,” Flamedra states with her hands on her hips.

            “We called our cousin from the army,” Flamed says holding up his phone, “he’s gonna bring a friend to help out.”

            “Who told you guys to do that?” Poss asks looking at them.

            “No one, but we care,” they say together.

            It took me a moment to realize, my number of friends has truly grown. I went from one friend to five, more if you count family that is the same age group. It warms my heart to have more people on my side, it’s no longer the world against myself.

            More tears start to flow down my cheeks, “you guys,” I choke out.

**Author's Note:**

> A/N: I do have this story on Fictionpress.com, if anyone wants to read further. Under the same name. But I’m trying to get more reviews and feedback on this story, since I would like to be my first publish work in the future. The whole story isn’t fully written down, but I have it all in my head. It’s just a matter getting people to push my motivation and inspiration to finish this story. Ten reviews would be a nice start, since this has never been reviewed on Fictionpress.com


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